Watch Ryan Lochte Break Phelps’ Meet Record in 200 IM at U.S. Open

2017 U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

U.S. Olympic champion Ryan Lochte made his post-Rio USA Swimming debut at the 2017 U.S. Open in East Meadow, New York. He competed in the 100 back and 200 IM, the latter of which he won in Championship Record time.

Lochte, who stated that he’s only been training 1-2 times per week in one of his post-race interviews, is the reigning World Record holder in the 200 IM. On Sunday night, he shaved over half a second off his prelims time (1:59.82) to take gold in 1:59.24. That cleared the former Championship Record of 1:59.26 set by Michael Phelps in 2006.

VIDEO: RYAN LOCHTE BREAKS PHELPS’ U.S. OPEN MEET RECORD IN 200 IM

The big difference maker between Lochte’s 2 swims (prelims versus finals) came on the backstroke leg. He was nearly a full second faster on the backstroke split in finals (29.42) than he was in prelims (30.41), but was significantly slower on the breaststroke split, adding 7 tenths on that leg in his finals swim. After finishing a distant 5th in the 100 back, Lochte said the 200 IM would be the real indicator of where he’s at and how much work he needs to do, so he’ll likely be working on his endurance from this point on to keep that breaststroke split a little bit quicker.

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Hello SwimSwamSwum
6 years ago

What if Kalisz swam at this meet? Breaks the meet record by 3, maybe 4 seconds?

AWSI DOOGER
6 years ago

Slightly faster than I expected. I estimated 1:59 mid

expert coach
6 years ago

Very good swim all things considered. I can’t stop thinking how exciting this race would have been had MA not scratched. 1:59.0 to 1:59.2. Surely they would have pushed each other to 1:58s and a couple of national team spots.

samuel huntington
Reply to  expert coach
6 years ago

I know righttttt??!!?? oh wowow

kcswimjk
6 years ago

Wishing all the best for Lochte in his redemption story, and congrats on the new baby, obviously!

That said, how is 1:59.2 the US Open meet record? It seems awfully soft in the grand scheme of things…

Nope not that one
Reply to  kcswimjk
6 years ago

For what reason would Ryan need a “redemption story”?

Swimmer33
Reply to  Nope not that one
6 years ago

For his 10 month ban after the drunken encounter at Rio Olympics followed by his false robbery report.

Greg Brance
Reply to  Swimmer33
6 years ago

The truth is fuzzier. He put himself in a bad situation but he did get held up at gun point by security guards demanding money.

Swimmer33
Reply to  Greg Brance
6 years ago

10 month ban, and forfeit of 100,000 in prize money… not real fuzzy.

Greg Brance
Reply to  Swimmer33
6 years ago

So you deny that the security guards pointed guns at him and demanded money?

Cate
Reply to  Greg Brance
6 years ago

They ( renta cops, not Rio police) pulled guns on him to keep them from leaving. Asked manager if they paid would they let them go. Lochte lied about being pull over by Rio cops. He lied about his wallet and phone being stolen. He peed all over someones business. All this while representing the US at the Olympics. He put his teammates who were younger than in a bad position by weaving this juvenile story. He’s not a kid, he’s over 30. That station manager will never make what Lochte makes. The Rio police who were wrongly accused are lucky if they get paid. Yeah, he needs a redemption story and I truly wish him luck in the future.

swimfan247
Reply to  kcswimjk
6 years ago

US Open is often a secondary meet. It has happened in December as a mid-season meet and also in the summer after Nationals or World Championship trials or Olympic trials. So, while it serves as the taper meet for most national level swimmers and can be pretty competitive, it’s often missing the top level stars at their best.

For the 200 IM specifically, this record likely would have fallen in 2009, but the championship final all wore speedos. It actually demonstrated the full insanity of the suits because a heat full of guys that went 2:00.68 – 2:02.57 to qualify then went 2:01.56 – 2:08.13 in the final sans suits. Jack Brown went 1:57 the month prior so he… Read more »

Michael
Reply to  swimfan247
6 years ago

I remember one of my coaches telling me about this story!

djalbertson
6 years ago

Amazing!

About Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh is a former NCAA swimmer at the University of Arizona (2013-2015) and the University of Florida (2011-2013). While her college swimming career left a bit to be desired, her Snapchat chin selfies and hot takes on Twitter do not disappoint. She's also a high school graduate of The …

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