Men’s 200 Freestyle and 200 Backstroke – 2013 World Championship Trials – as reported by swimswam editor-in-chief Braden Keith:
200 free: Ryan Lochte continues to play his meet perfectly, cruising through prelims and then blowing-up in finals. He led the men’s 200 free final wire-to-wire into a 1:45.97 – the 5th-best time in the world in 2013. He looked understandably tired, but not totally exhausted as we’ve seen him at some of the Grand Prix meets this year, which will be key headed into his second event, the 200 back, later in the session.
Conor Dwyer continued to excel after making the move to swim with Bob Bowman at NBAC, taking 2nd in a personal best time of 1:46.25. His development will continue to be key to the Americans retaining their crown in the 800 free relay with no Phelps. He now sits 7th in the world, as the Americans, Russian, French, and Chinese all have two swimmers in the top 10.
200 back: Ryan Lochte again bided his time and effort, and though he was hurting badly the last 15 meters of this race, he held off a late charge by Tyler Clary for the win by margin of 1:55.16-1:55.58.
It was almost a flashback to the Olympic final, where Lochte went out hard, but coming off of the last wall Clary made a big move. This time, though, Lochte’s lead was big enough, and he held on for victory.
As it’s the case for Missy, the schedule in Barcelona is much better for him than it was in London. The men’s 200 IM final is on day 5 and the men’s 200 back final is on day 6. Not the same crazy double as last year.
Maybe he would better avoid doubles in the future to concentrate much better on 2 or 3 races only .