Friday 18 June 2021

World Record Holder Ryan Lochte Places 7th in 200 IM, Misses Olympic Team | SwimSwam

By Annika Johnson on SwimSwam

2021 U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS

World Record holder and 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte made it all the way to the 200 IM final at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Wave II. He was in contention to make his 5th Olympic Team.

In the final tonight,  Lochte placed 7th with a time of 1:59.67. Michael Andrew won the race (1:55.44), slightly slower than his semifinals swim. And Chase Kalisz, who won silver in the 400 IM at the 2016 Rio Olympics, earned 2nd place with a time of 1:56.97.

Lochte had a faster last 50 freestyle than Andrew, splitting a 29.46 to Andrew’s 30.09. Lochte also had one of the faster reaction times, .65 compared to Andrew and Kalisz’s .68 and .69, respectively.

But what really set him back was that he had the 7th fastest 50 breast split (34.69). This bumped him to 7th place, .08 behind 6th place finisher Andrew Seliskar who was able to hold him off on the freestyle.

This was Lochte’s final event of the meet, so he has officially missed making the Tokyo 2020 U.S. Olympic team roster. He also finished 25th in the 200 free at this meet.

36-year-old Lochte clarified in his post-race interview Friday night that this isn’t the end of the road for him, but that that might not mean more competing.

Lochte won silver in this event at the 2004 and 2012 Olympic Games and he won bronze in 2008. He set the current World Record at 1:54.00 at the 2011 World Championships. He has been a part of Team USA’s gold medal-winning 800 free relays at every Olympic Games since 2004, and he placed 4th in the individual 200 free at the 2012 Olympics.

Here’s a look back at Lochte’s World Record-setting 200 IM swim at World Championships in 2011:

 

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