Phelps, Lochte set up thrilling Rio show

Ryan Lochte gave himself one more thing to do in Rio Friday night, finishing second to Michael Phelps in the 200 individual medley in the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha, Neb.

Meanwhile, another defending Olympic champion went down. Lochte’s time in the semifinal beat Phelps’ time by.9 seconds.

They battled stroke-for-stroke before Phelps lunged for the win in 1min 55.91sec, with Lochte second in 1:56.22 – putting them second- and third-fastest in the world this year behind the 1:55.07 of Japan’s Kosuke Hagino.

The men’s 200 IM was a duel between legends Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

Katie Ledecky’s hopes of swimming another relay event at the Rio Olympics took a big hit when she finished seventh in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials. But because Ledecky and eighth-place finisher Kelsi Worrell had already clinched spots on the U.S. Olympic team in other events, they could always be called on in Rio, as well.

Phelps and Lochte actually had their first encounter on the way to the deck. Phelps has earned a spot on his fifth Olympic team; Lochte has made his fourth. No, it wasn’t as fast as they’ve been, but it was a tight race, and that’s what was anticipated. We take each other to that next step, that race especially. ‘What are you doing, trying to mess me up?’ and I was like, “No, no, no, don’t think that!”

“To see that, a dream come true for both of us, it was just really cool”.

How impressive have Phelps and Lochte been through the years?

Clary was next at 1:55.33.

In lane five was Phelps, the victor of a record 22 Olympic medals who has made the gold medal in the 200 IM his personal property taking top spot on the podium at the last three summer Games.

They’ve combined for the past seven global titles, dating to the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona. It’s this event that Phelps has won time and time again, and Friday would be no different. She won her heat by more than 18 seconds and led all qualifiers by 11, and took sole ownership of the entire list of the top 10 times in history in the event – bumping out Rebecca Adlington, whose 8:14.10 in 2008 stood as the world record until Ledecky took it down in 2013. “I love racing against him”. It’s so much fun.

“I knew going into this race it was going to be a dogfight until the end”, Lochte said. The journey is not over.

“That’s probably the last time people in the United States will see that, the two of us race one another”, Phelps said.

Lochte, 31, added, “We push each other”. The Japanese standout, who missed last year’s World Championships while recovering from a fractured elbow, almost joined Phelps and Lochte in the sub-1:55 club when he generated a 1:55.07 showing earlier this year. The 35-year-old Ervin led the way at 21.55, with Adrian second in 21.60 and Jones third at 21.93. Aaron Schultz (Deep Run/Princeton) finished 66th in the men’s 100-meter butterfly in 54.66.

While Lochte was done for the night, Phelps still had work to do, capping off a long, gruelling and emotional day by finding enough in the tank to qualify sixth fastest for the final of the 100 butterfly. “Two in 28 minutes used to be pretty easy, but that one wasn’t easy”.