2019 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- July 31 – August 4, 2019
- Prelims 9:00 AM/Finals 5:00 PM (U.S. Pacific Standard Time)
- Avery Aquatics Center (Stanford, CA)
- LCM (50 Meter Pool)
- Meet Site
- Psych Sheet
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- TV & Livestream Schedule
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Reported by Lauren Neidigh.
Olympic champion Ryan Lochte returned to competition this week in Palo Alto, California, racing for the first time in over a year as his 14-month suspension expired this week. Lochte kicked things off with a 200 IM time trial on Wednesday, posting a 1:57.88. That was his fastest time in the event since the 2016 Rio Olympics by a full second. Tonight, he lowered that mark a bit to win the title in 1:57.76. Lochte finished over a second ahead of the field.
Having an infant at home myself, I think it is amazing he even made it to four practices a week. Bodes well for when he is able to hit it hard – I hope he succeeds! Yeah he’s made mistakes, but I feel the sport has been disproportionately hard on him, and FAR too lenient on others….
I wish I could believe that MAndrew would challenge. He was kind of invisible at Worlds.
facts stan facts
If a 36-year-old Lochte qualifies for the Olympics next year in the 200 IM, it’ll probably mean two things:
1) He will have gone 1:54/1:55 as a 36-year-old, which would be very impressive — kind of astonishing even, especially given his training in the past couple of years. But Lochte has always been an insanely good swimmer.
2) The new generation of 200 IMers are still relatively weak. Phelps and Lochte have been going 1:54s since 2007. It’s time for the younger guys to step up.
Personally I’d rather see Dressel, Kalisz (who has been 1:55.4), and some even younger guys beat Lochte at trials — Going 1:54.
On second thought, I’d really rather see Lochte go 1:53. But since that seems impossible, I wanna see someone else do it or get close.
That’s not going to happen. Phelps and Lochte are the two greatest swimmers of all time. I don’t think people are going to suddenly go 1:54s like they did.
So you think having guys go 1:54s twelve years after Phelps and Lochte started doing it is “suddenly”?
Yeah, they’re the greatest. But it’s been a minute. Their other records have all gone down. 200 and 400 IM are the only ones left. I don’t see why they shouldn’t go down soon too.
Well yes it would be suddenly because no one is really all that close to a 1:54 right now. It would be a big surprise.
We need a mega talent to come along in the IMs. In the fly we have Dressel and Milak.
I mean, in an Olympic year, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if between Dressel, Kalisz, Seliskar, Andrew, Shebat, Licon etc., two or three of them broke 1:55. And frankly I almost expect Dean Farris to do it.
My thoughts – Dressel is not going to swim the 200 IM. What have you seen from Seliskar, Shebat, Farris, and Licon in LCM that suggests they will go 1:54? I’m not sold on Kalisz after this summer. Andrew is hard to say.
I’ve seen Seliskar go 1:38.1 and Shebat go 1:39. Licon was more of the throw-in because of his impressive NCAA win in the event. I haven’t seen anything to indicate Dean Farris can go 1:54… But that guy evidently can do whatever he wants.
Anyway, I said 2 or 3 guys from that group can go 1:54. Kalisz and Dressel are certainly capable. I think Seliskar is too. The others probably can’t do it, but they’ve surprised me before.
No one is really all that close? Kalisz has been 1:55.4. That’s close. Dressel and Seliskar have been 1:38.1 scy, which Swim Swam’s time conversion tool converts to 1:55.0. Also close.
You cannot trust the conversion tool, I think most people would agree with that. And again Kalisz isn’t impressing me.
Sure, I agree the conversion tool isn’t accurate. But I think going 1:38.1 scy means 1:54 lcm is within reach.
And I think Kalisz will be strong in 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJwT8NJBJoA
Ryan is 35.
Oh sorry. I’ll rephrase:
“If a 35-year-11-month-old Lochte qualifies for the Olympics…”
He’ll turn 36 at the Olympics, about 5-6 weeks after trials…
Oldest US swimming male champion ever and he not sprinter. One interview Ryan said: I focus is 200IM and 400IM too. Resistence was very good: 5 days differents races.
He did not swim the 4 IM and his 200 free was not good.
The amount of chatter here proves that Lochte makes the sport more interesting. He’s fun to watch and he’s goofy. I appreciate that. A lot of the swimmers are kind of boring in interviews…at least you never know what Lochte is going to say and he’s an amazing swimming talent.
He popped off two 1:57s this week, and a 1:58 and 1:57 in the same day at a time when he’s sleep deprived and not training consistently because he and his wife are up all night with a newborn, and clearly not in peak shape yet. All the tools are still there. He showed that he’s still got it. The conditioning will come with work and time. Ryan and Coach Troy know what he has to do to get there. I’m confident he’ll be more than ready for Trials if he focuses on the 200 IM, and possibly the 200 free. The 400 IM might take too much out of him at this point.
It’s like how in basketball they say, “you can’t teach height.” You can’t teach that magic Lochte has with the water.
Real talk though, Lochte and Phelps are far and away the 2 best IMers ever. This dude can actually only be in like 1:48 200 shape, and still muster up a 1:57.7 200 IM. Prime Lochte has to be the most versatile swimmer ever (though a younger Phelps was pretty versatile as well, he almost got the 100 back WR in 2007…)
Uhh Phelps was the most versatile swimmer ever. This is not a debate
LCM perhaps. Ever see Lochte at NCAAs or SCM Worlds?
Phelps didn’t care about NCAAs (wasn’t eligible) or SCM. Most of the world doesn’t care either.
ridiculous answer …..Lochte still holds 2 SC WR — nobody came close to beat them so far .
I think he can get back down to 1:55 or so as long as there are no weird mishaps or injuries in the next 12 months. Hopefully he won’t get tackled by an enthusiastic fan again, which was kind of the beginning of his decline post-2012 from what I recall.