Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Anne Lepesant.
Michael Phelps of North Baltimore, seeded fourth after the morning’s heats, controlled the final from start to finish. He was out first with the butterfly and had built his lead to 1.3 seconds by the halfway point. His teammate Chase Kalisz, who has one of the strongest second halves in the game, outsplit the entire field in the breaststroke, gaining a second on Phelps. Phelps was still a second up on the field heading into the freestyle, though, and he was able to hold on for the win, splitting the second-fastest free overall. Phelps’s final time was 1:57.61, 2 seconds faster than in Minneapolis last month. Kalisz earned the silver medal with 1:58.77.
After that it was a wave of finishers: Eduardo Solaeche of Gator Swim Club, who was the only one in the field to outsplit Phelps in over the final 50 freestyle, touched third in 2:00.14. North Baltimore’s David Nolan came in at 2:00.15, while Michael Weiss of Wisconsin Aquatics was 2:00.19.
In the consolation final, South Africa’s Dylan Bosch and Sebastian Rousseau looked like they would battle it out to the finish, but University of Michigan’s Evan White, swimming out in lane 8, stole their thunder. White split a 33.9 breaststroke and took over the lead; he was able to hold on down the final stretch and won the heat in 2:01.79. Bosch and Club Wolverine’s Kyle Whitaker tied for second in the heat with 2:01.98.