Phelps, Lochte in for Rio Olympics 200m IM

Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte will represent the United States in the 200m individual medley at an Olympic Games for the fourth consecutive time. Phelps clocked 1:55.91 to beat Lochte by 0.31 seconds at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials from Omaha, Nebraska on Friday.

Lochte, nursing a groin injury, qualified for his only individual event at the Rio Games. He’ll also swim on the 4x200m freestyle relay, after qualifying in fourth place on Wednesday in the 200m freestyle.

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Phelps returned to the pool about 20 minutes later to compete in the 100m butterfly semifinal, where he clocked 51.83 to finish third. The other semifinal was a faster field -- Phelps will advance into Saturday’s final in sixth place, where the top two finishers will earn an Olympic berth in the event.

 

Abbey Weitzeil and Simone Manuel finished first and second qualifying for their first Olympics in the 100m freestyle, 53.28 to 53.52, respectively. They’ll be joined on the 4x100m freestyle relay by Amanda Weir and Lia Neal (who both also swam that relay in the London Olympics and earned bronze medals).

 

Allison Schmitt (53.75) and Dana Vollmer (53.77) finished fifth and sixth, respectively, and will also likely be a part of that 4x100m freestyle relay.

 

Katie Ledecky finished in seventh place, racing to 53.99, while Kelsi Worrell finished eighth in 54.06. First and last place were separated by only 0.78 seconds.

 

Lilly King qualified to swim the 200m breaststroke in Rio by finishing first She raced to two minutes, 24.08 and will likely be joined in Rio by the second place finisher, Molly Hannis.

2012 Olympian Micah Lawrence, who finished sixth in London, clocked 2:24.93 for fourth place.

Ryan Murphy won the 200m backstroke to make a trip to Rio in 1:53.95, followed by Jacob Pebley with a time of 1:54.77.

Tyler Clary, the 2012 Olympic champion in the event, was third in a time of 1:55.33 – separated from defending his gold medal and staying home by half a second.

Missy Franklin won her 200m backstroke semifinal heat in a time of 2:08.63, earning her the No. 2 spot overall heading into Saturday’s final. Maya DiRado won the other semifinal heat in a time of 2:08.14, so she’ll be into the final in first place. Franklin is the defending 2012 Olympic gold medalist and will be joined in the field by 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in the event, Elizabeth Beisel.

Beisel, who raced to 2:09.81 for fifth place, is competing with a fractured bone in and a torn ligament in her pinky after an injury in the warm up pool.

Anthony Ervin raced to 21.55 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in the world this year, to win the first 50m freestyle semifinal heat and advance to Saturday’s final in first place. Nathan Adrian was hot on his heels in a time of 21.60.

Cullen Jones won the second semifinal in 21.93, good enough for third overall, and was followed by Jimmy Feigen in 21.93 and Caeleb Dressel in 22.04.

William Copeland and Josh Schneider tied for eighth place and later had to race in a swim-off for the last spot in the final. Schneider won by 0.25 seconds and will advance to the final for a berth to Rio.