Rio de Janeiro:
Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are in semi-finals in the men’s 200m individual medley at Rio Olympics.Phelps, still basking in the glow of his emotional 200m butterfly triumph one of two golds he bagged on Tuesday to take his astonishing career tally to 21, out-touched Brazilian Thiago Pereira in a race that sent the Olympic Aquatic Stadium crowd wild, notching the third-fastest time of the heats of 1:58.41.
World record-holder Lochte won his heat in 1:57.38 to top the times, with Germany’s Philip Heintz second quickest in 1:57.59.“I’m definitely fatigued a little bit,” said Phelps, who admits doubles like the 200m fly-4x100m free don’t come as easily as they used to now that he’s 31.
“It hurt a little bit, but with a good rest this afternoon think I’ll be fine,” he said. “I’ve been able to put my body through things like this over the years and hopefully I can keep it going one last time.”Phelps has won the 200m medley at three straight Games, with Lochte taking two silvers and a bronze behind him.
The only Olympians to win four consecutive titles in the same individual event are athletes Al Oerter in the discus (1956-68) and Carl Lewis in the long jump (1984-96).Phelps said he didn’t know how matching that feat might rank in his impressive list of Olympic achievements.
“I’ll tell you if it happens,” he said. “Leaving everything in the pool one last time is what I’m going to do and if that’s good enough to win, we’ll see.”It was all quiet on the Efimova front as Russian Yulia Efimova made her way into the semi-finals of the 200m breaststroke along with American Lilly King—who unabashedly called out Efimova over her doping history prior to beating her in
the 100m breast.
Efimova notched the eighth fastest time in an event led by Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen while King was 15th-fastest.Russia’s Evgeny Rylov led qualifying for the men’s 200m backstroke semis in 1:55.02. China’s Xu Jiayu was second-quickest in 1:55.51 ahead of Australian Mitch Larkin and 100m backstroke gold medallist Ryan Murphy.
World record-holder Cate Campbell of Australia led the way into the semi-finals of the women’s 100m freestyle in an Olympic record of 52.78.“You’re always a little bit nervous for your first swim so I’m really glad that that’s out of the way,” Campbell said, adding that she was still adjusting to the afternoon heats/late-night finals schedule.
