Epic Swims: Phelps and Lochte Battle it out in the 200 IM, Shanghai 2011

Americans Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte have battled it out many times in the pool, especially in the 200 IM. The 2011 World Championships in Shanghai were one of the highlights of that decade-long rivalry.

Lochte arrived in Shanghai as the defending world champion in both IMs. However, Phelps came in as a worthy contender for the World title in the 200, having had much success in the prior few years at international meets. That included winning an impressive 8 golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

In Shanghai, Lochte and Phelps qualified first and second, respectively, out of the semifinals in the 200 IM. This set up a highly-anticipated battle between the two Americans in the final.

Phelps led after the butterfly leg, but Lochte caught up to him on backstroke and extended his lead by about half a body length over Phelps on the breaststroke. It looked like Phelps had a chance of catching Lochte on the freestyle leg, as the final 25 meters were almost dead-even between the two swimmers. But ultimately it was Lochte who out-touched Phelps for the win by 0.16.

Lochte’s winning time of 1:54.00 bested his own world record of 1:54.10, set at the 2009 World Championships in Rome. Phelps finished in second in a personal best of 1:54.16, while Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh snagged the bronze in 1:57.69.

In watching this video, one can see how dominant Lochte and Phelps were in their day. They were body lengths ahead of the rest of a very talented field throughout the second half of the race. Furthermore, Lochte’s world record remains untouched today, meaning that the next man who breaks it will become the first man in history to break 1:54 in the 200m IM.

 

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Bayliss
4 years ago

Lochte 200 I.M. in 2011 and 400 I.M. in 2012 are to me the most impressive swims at those distances. Phelps might have the WR in the 400 I.M. but Lochte was only 1.3 off without a super suit, and a kind of lazy finish. I wish we could have seen a peak Lochte-Phelps 400 I.M. race like this one.

DBSwims
4 years ago

I love how SwimSwam doesn’t spoil the result everyone knows in the title but NBC spoils results that we don’t spoiled. Thank you SwimSwam.

Crannman
4 years ago

Insanely epic race imo. You can still in those last few strokes Phelps is doing absolutely everything possible to beat Lochte but just couldn’t get there. After all, 2011 was Lochte’s best year. Probably their best 200 IM battle 👌

Marklewis
Reply to  Crannman
4 years ago

Yes, Phelps kicked like crazy the final 25 to close the gap but Lochte wasn’t going to let Phelps pass him.

Lochte chased Phelps for years and years. In this race, you see what it took to finally beat him. A world record that still stands.

SVIRD
4 years ago

Man Lochte peaked a year too early. In 2011 he dominated Phelps who (despite his/Bob’s claims) was having a good meet himself.

Mr Piano
Reply to  SVIRD
4 years ago

I mean he added like 2 seconds in the 2 fly and 2 Free.

Marmot
Reply to  Mr Piano
4 years ago

That was the last time he went 1:44 in the 200 freestyle individually. He was wearing a completely different suit. Vapid post.

Dee
Reply to  SVIRD
4 years ago

I think the 400IM in London left a mark physically. That swim was almost as good as his 200IM WR, but it was so much more physical. He turned half a second ahead of Phelps’ WR at 300m. That race was the culimination of everything for Lochte imo, and a bit hard to come back from emotionally and physically so quickly.

PACFAN
Reply to  Dee
4 years ago

The 400 IM from London is absolutely peak Ryan Lochte in every sense of the word.

Amazing time, amazing swimming skill, a chronically undervalued performance, dramatic (Ye Shiwen controversy), Ryan died like a dog and finished lazy as ever, but didn’t even matter. 4:05, textile WR, Jeah WR

Dirtswimmer
Reply to  Dee
4 years ago

More than that though I think the his anchor leg on the 400 free relay the following day where he got passed by angel at the end kinda crushed him and messed with his focus for the rest of the meet.

Anonymoose
4 years ago

Favorite race ever. More swimming skill packed and displayed in two lanes than your usual Olympic final has as a whole

Skoorbnagol
4 years ago

Fun fact that for all Phelps’s achievements in 200IM his PB is from a race he got beat.
Phelps had a good meet in 2011 as much as Bob and Michael say he wasn’t in great shape.
PB in 200IM, last time he would go 1.44 stand up 200free goes 50.7 100fly and wins the 200fly 1.53.3.
Leads of 4×100 in 48.0.
This was Lochte’s Meet tho.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Skoorbnagol
4 years ago

It was definitely Lochte’s meet. His underwater off the 100 turn in the 200 free, when he blew past Phelps, was one of the greatest ever. The one unbecoming thing about Phelps (besides the DUIs) was he rarely gave credit to his competitors who beat him — the exception being his swan song 100 fly when he credited Schooling. His go-to was always hinting at not being in prime shape. If you show up on the blocks, that’s what you live with, no excuses.

Ferb
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

He gave credit & respect to to Ian Crocker when Crocker beat him.

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

Lochte was the beast swimmer in 2011 – beating SC world records already in 2010 ( SCWorlds ) & Producing the most incredible underwater dolphin kicks in the pool – that’s how he got the win in the 200 back, IM & free .

Joe
Reply to  Skoorbnagol
4 years ago

Ironic really.

4 consecutive Olympic golds, but his PB is from a race where someone else set the WR…