2021 U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS
- When:
- Wave I Dates: June 4-7, 2021
- Wave II Dates: June 13-20, 2021
- Prelims: 10am CDT | Finals: 7pm CDT (8PM finals on Friday & Saturday)
- Where: CHI Health Center / Omaha, Nebraska
- 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifying Cuts
- Wave I & II Event Order
- LCM (50m)
- Day 6 Finals Live Stream
- Psych Sheets
- Wave II Live Results
- Day 6 Finals Heat Sheet
World Record holder and 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte made it all the way to the 200 IM final at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Wave II. He was in contention to make his 5th Olympic team.
In the final tonight, Lochte placed 7th with a time of 1:59.67. Michael Andrew won the race (1:55.44), slightly slower than his semifinals swim. And Chase Kalisz, who won silver in the 400 IM at the 2016 Rio Olympics, earned 2nd place with a time of 1:56.97.
Lochte had a faster last 50 freestyle than Andrew, splitting a 29.46 to Andrew’s 30.09. Lochte also had one of the faster reaction times, .65 compared to Andrew and Kalisz’s .68 and .69, respectively.
But what really set him back was that he had the 7th fastest 50 breast split (34.69). This bumped him to 7th place, .08 behind 6th place finisher Andrew Seliskar who was able to hold him off on the freestyle.
This was Lochte’s final event of the meet, so he has officially missed making the Tokyo 2020 U.S. Olympic team roster. He also finished 25th in the 200 free at this meet.
36-year-old Lochte clarified in his post-race interview Friday night that this isn’t the end of the road for him, but that that might not mean more competing.
“There’s a lot more that I want to accomplish in the sport of swimming,” he said. “Whether it’s in the pool or outside the pool, making swimming bigger. That’s my biggest goal.”
“But I’m enjoying having fun, teaching all these younger kids everything that I’ve learned,” he said while gesturing to 22-year-old Andrew. “And carrying the torch like this guy,” he gestured to Andrew again. “He’s going to represent USA well and I’m proud. ”
When asked how he wants to be remembered in the pool, Lochte did not list any of his accomplishments. Instead, he called Andrew and the entire swimming community part of his family.
Lochte’s ending statement of the interview: “I’m gonna go be a dad right now and give my kids a hug.”
Race Video – 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Wave II Men’s 200 IM Final
Lochte won silver in this event at the 2004 and 2012 Olympic Games and he won bronze in 2008. He set the current World Record at 1:54.00 at the 2011 World Championships. He has been a part of Team USA’s gold medal-winning 800 free relays at every Olympic Games since 2004, and he placed 4th in the individual 200 free at the 2012 Olympics.
Here’s a look back at Lochte’s World Record-setting 200 IM swim at World Championships in 2011:
OK — let me play Devil’s Advocate:
It is one thing to write that RL a) did something seriously wrong; and b) expressed regret for his actions immediately.
Except there is one problem here: that is not the way the events of Rio 2016 unfolded.
RL a) did something seriously wrong [along with others] and b) took multiple runs at ‘the truth’ both in Rio and the USA in what can only be described as a painful and tortuous way of speaking the truth about what he [and others] did.
He said at one point, “I don’t know if I would consider it as a robbery, or extortion, or us just paying up for the poster… Read more »
To me, the greatest thing about Lochte was that he kept the sport interesting during the various Phelps’ slumps and hiatuses. Always showing up big at SC Worlds and LC Worlds. Never ducking a race. Doing the insane training that left him dead in-season year after year. Having the stones to tackle ridiculous doubles. Having the stones to view Phelps as beatable, when almost everyone else just cratered to him. Getting all that out of an “average” body that wasn’t freakishly bioengineered like Phelps or freakishly athletic like Dressel. As Marsh once said about him, “he has a special relationship with the water.” I hope he keeps competing. And damn, 1:58 and 1:49 at 36 is amazing.
Thank you Lochte! Heroes get remembered, but legends never die! You are legend forever in my eyes and the swimming communitie. Thank you for pushing the Goat like nobody and showing that if someone works hard enough anything is possible. I also think that you won the true Race of The Century: 200 IM in Xangai!
“On March 9, 2018, Lochte drove 20 minutes from a small South Florida swim meet to Parkland. He had asked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School swim and water polo coaches if he could meet the boys and girls teams, three weeks after 17 people were killed in a shooting at the school.
Lochte learned about Nicholas Dworet, one of the 14 students killed, who had been a captain of the swim team. Lochte met Dworet’s parents and saw a piece of paper. Dworet had written down a goal to make the 2020 Olympic team for Sweden. Lochte decided then to dedicate his own 2020 Olympic swims to Dworet, should he defy convention and make it to a fifth Games.”
You can say what you want about Lochte. But…if you say he doesn’t care about people, that he’s not willing to give his time to the kids, then you are wrong. Any conversation of his legacy MUST include that.
Good closure as a fighter and a gentleman. A true legend.
People try to retire on top. Many of the greats don’t. Big baller move to try to beat the best as a 36 year old.
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Back in Lochte’s first Olympics in 2004, he got the silver medal with a 1:58.78. I think that was after is freshman or sophomore year of college. He was basically that fast this week, but the sport is so much faster now. But it is actually amazing that he has his college-level speed at age 36. Most masters swimmers I know have no hope of going their college times at that age.
But it is also amazing how much faster he got, post-college. As talented as he was, he was kind of a late bloomer compared to Phelps, and it didn’t come all at once. I think Phelps had already gone 1:55 in 2003. It took Lochte quite a bit… Read more »
I feel like he had a 1:56 in him. Just not today. The first turn probably threw him way off his game. He’s such a nice guy. The swimming world owes him for so many reasons. He deserves so much more respect.
It is possible he had a 1:56 in him on his best day. It seems weird to me that he could go 1:57 a year ago, when clearly out of shape and overweight, but only manage 1:58 and 1:59 this week. But one thing I’ve noticed with older swimmers (myself included) is that it becomes a lot more random when you’ll be “on” or not. Maybe that happened with him today.
No one had the first 150… hence he dominated