11-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte swam 400 IM at the Pro Swim in Austin. He was shaved and semi-rested, clocking a 4:12. Not bad for a guy who said he did not want to swim that event again–ever. But this is the Olympic year, and everyone has a touch of Olympic Fever. Motivations are high. Harder work is being banked, and now, according to Lochte, a veteran over 30 years old, 400 IM is on the table for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha.
SwimMAC CEO and Head Coach David Marsh said he wanted to see Ryan do it so he – at very least – has the option to race 400 IM at Trials.
From the outside looking in, it appears no one really knows if Ryan will or won’t race 400 IM. It seems it will all come down to how much conditioning Ryan does over the next 90 days.
If you missed Michael Phelps interview, he joked to Ryan that if you win it at the last Olympics, you have to swim at US Trials. Phelps went on to say, in a more serious tone, he thinks Ryan can do it, but he has to do the work.
Will Ryan race 400 IM in Omaha…or at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio? If so, how fast will he go? I think Ryan’s a sub 4:04.7 if he does it, and I think that’s enough be in the hunt for gold. What do you think?
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This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.
These videos are always so excellent and thought-provoking. But Mel, where is Katie Ledecky’s gold medal minute?! After that 800 I thought hers would be the first one to be posted!
An equally interesting question, is: will Lochte try to do the 200 back / 200 IM double again? So sad both are on the same day, but he has pulled off the double-medal at the last two olympics.
The 200 IM is his best event, but the 200 back is equally a medal opportunity.
That’s a great question. Whereas Phelps is focusing only on events that he can win, Lochte may be indifferent and just try to medal at as many events as he can. I can’t think of another swimmer who has pulled off the double-medal at 3 Olympics. That would be pretty amazing.
Floppy, but he did not win both events mainly because of the double. and he is a bit older now, also he has to beat Clary and Murphy first.
USA has a great streak in this event, I hope they can continue:
2012 – Lochte Gold, Phelps 4th
2008 – Phelps Gold, Lochte bronze
2004 – Phelps Gold, Vendt silver
2000 – Dolan Gold, Vendt silver
1996 – Dolan Gold, Namesnik silver
Realistically, I think Lochte/Kalisz (maybe Clary) are USA’s best medal chances, but I’d love to see someone else step it up and dive under 4:10. Lochte should swim it at least at trials and assess.
100fly? There,s no way he medals there. Not with michael Phelps, chad leclos, joseph schooling, mehdy metella, li zhuhao, tom shields and lazlo czech. You are right about the 200 free. It,ll take a miracle for him to medal there to. His best bet is the 200im.
just making the team in the 100 fly will be tough enough for lochte..
And the 400 IM is his best shot for gold, because phelps won’t be swimming it.. Phelps just went 1:54.75 a couple months ago in the 200 IM and has a strong shot at breaking that WR (which is 1:54.00)
I don’t see Lochte doing better than 4:06 high. Silver at best, possibly bronze. If he didn’t swim it at Worlds, I think it will be a difficult pick-up. As Lochte gets older, he is losing his endurance. I think he would be better off in the 200IM, 200Back, and 100Fly. I don’t see him medalling in the 200Free.
I think you’re right, Mel! However, it really does depend on how much work he puts in. He’ll need to put in lots of preparation to go that fast. I real challenge, for sure.
Lochte’s Olympic schedule could be exactly the same of Hagino: 400 im, 200 free, 4×200 free relay and 200 im (the final medley relay more likely for Hagino than for Lochte).
And because Hagino is roughly 10 years younger than Lochte, he should have a better recovery but…at least in the 400 im both Lochte and Hagino will be in ideal conditions, furthermore we don’t know if Hagino, after last year’s injury, will be in the same shape of 2014, worse or better, finally in the 400 im don’t forget WC Daiya Seto, not in great form last year at Kazan (like showed in the 200 fly) but northeless dominant in the 400 im in the final day of competition… Read more »
I think Ryan is considering to swim the 400 IM. It will be very hard for him to win this race but that’s also true for any other race. In fact i don’t know which race he could win? 200 back? No way, Larkin is much stronger. 200 IM? No way the G.O.A.T. will be slower than Ryan. 200 Free? Packed with swimmers on his level. Sorry Ryan, i don’t see any gold medal for you except maybe the 400 IM. So go for it, it’s your best chance.