Ryan Lochte was listed on the psych sheets for the Austin Grand Prix, and though he won’t be swimming there, his return from an MCL injury will be coming much, much sooner than the mid-summer that he and his family were originally expecting.
Lochte’s targeted return date will be the 2014 Orlando Grand Prix which runs from February 13th-15th, according to SwimMAC Carolina CEO David Marsh and SwimMAC Team Elite Director of High Performance Jeff Dugdale
Social media updates show that Lochte has been back in the water training for a while, and has gradually been increasing his activity on land as well.
After a fairly successful World Championships, Lochte moved to Charlotte, North Carolina after over a decade training at the University of Florida to swim with SwimMAC Carolina’s Team Elite. He has not competed since joining his new training group.
Expect Lochte to focus on the backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle races upon his return; given the accelerated timetable of his return, any appearance in the IM, where he’d have to swim breaststroke, seems unlikely.
