Ryan Lochte, 11-time Olympic medalist, has wrapped his reality show on E! Entertainment Network. The premiere netted 700,000 plus households, but the series average netted just under 450,000 households, slightly off the E! primetime average. Whether or not E! will order a second season has not been decided…yet. Lochte’s training suffered during production, but he’s put 6 hard weeks of training in and the results of that work has been very promising. Lochte clocked a 4:11 in the 400 IM at the Santa Clara Grand Prix, a fantastic in-season swim, a swim that cannot be done without very hard work. Lochte is clearly in a good place heading into World Championship Trials in Indianapolis and the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. Lochte has been cagey about his schedule at World Championship Trials, but it appears he will, in fact, swim the 400 IM. Look for rising star, Chase Kalisz, and 2012 Olympic Champion (200 backstroke), Tyler Clary, to challenge Lochte.
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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 co-founder of swimswam.com.
Regardless of how many events he swims and qualifies for at trials I think Lochte has a chance to medal in 3 individual events at worlds:
200IM
400IM
200Free
Forget the 100/200 back and 100 fly, although if the 200 back was his only final on that day he could medal in that as well. I’m still convinced he peaked in 2011 and after seeing him run down on the relay at the Olympics and getting beat in the 200m back it all be confirmed it for me.
Everybody seems to forget Ryan Murphy on 200 back to challenge both Lochte and Clary and Irie at worlds .
I don’t forget him in the 200 back but I think he has better chance to qualify in the 100 back. 53 low will be enough to qualify and I believe he can do it.
I think everyone is forgetting he has trained under Troy for the last Ten years. I imagine the TV show was his first real taper since high school ! A short bump up in training and a staggered month of rest should have him carrying a lot of speed.
I personally don’t expect much from Lochte especially if he swims a large program. For example I don’t see him ever breaking a 1:44 in the 200m free, which won’t matter much this year since there’s not much competition in that event. If he does swim the 400IM he’s going to be spent because Hagino will go a 4:06 and just like last year we know he can’t do a huge double like the 200 back and 200 im and be at his best. He’ll probably go a 1:54.5 in the 200IM, clearly his best event at this stage of the game.
Also, Clary has looked horrible this year and I would be surprised to see him make it in… Read more »
Come on guys I can’t believe you are buying this thing about lochte not trainning…Really?
In December he won 8 medals at short course worlds, with a 200IM world record that is unbelievable, I mean 1.49…
He has been trainning and he’s going to do a very good wch trials and very good worlds too. He will probably not set any individual worlds records and I don’t think the relays are going to do wr too. However expect lochte to win 6 or 7 medals even though not gold in all of them.
I think he is going to swim for sure 100 and 200 back, 100 fly, 200im, 100(only prelims).and 200 free. My main dought is the 400… Read more »
Portugal..
If he tries ALL THIS.. I think he will not qualify at 100 fly.. or even if he qualifies.. he will lose his medal to Mcgill or Shields..
On 200 free he won´t get gold for sure.. but he have McEvoy Hagino Stravius Holmes Izotov that all want to prove something..
On 200 Back.. Hagino Ryousuke and Clary will give him a hard time.
If he tries to overload his schedule.. he might not get any gold individual.. he should focus more and don´t try to take everything.. He is awesome but trying to have a Phelps Schdule clearly did not work..
For the 4×200.. US will have a hard time with the French.. for the 4x100m the game… Read more »
Rafael Teixeira, you write that US will have a hard time with the French in the 4X200. After London I even thought France would won in Barcelona. But since the French trials I have big doubts. We have 3 great guys with Yannick Agnel, Jérémy Stravius and Grégory Mallet but the big problem is the 4th swimmer. Amaury Leveaux is out of shape. Our 4th swimmer will probably swim only around 1.47. But you’re right. The race will be close.
Even without Phelps, The US has a pretty solid team. Berens, Lochte, and Dwyer are all 1:45 low swimmers. McLean has the potential to be a force. I think everyone has jumped on the French bandwagon a little to soon and forgetting about the Americans.
Mr portugal, I agree with you about the training of Ryan Lochte not as bad as he says since London. I talk about that above. But I disagree with your predictions about a few races like the 100 fly (no chance for him), the 200 back (Mr Clary will win it), the 4X100 free relay (I believe you forget the future winner with France). I don’t believe Mr Lochte will swim 5 individual events in Barcelona. It would be too much for him. The only sure individual gold medal for him in my opinion is the 200 IM.
I believe Lochte can be very competitive for quite a while even if training much less than he used to. Just look at Pellegrini or Vollmer. They are able to post decent times while training only once a day.
A question remains: how far this base, as people referred to it, can continue to shore up them? I don’t know, but I do think it is about a year or a year and a half.
My question as well, SWIMFANFINLAND. How long can Ryan go without the HUGE workouts behind him? I know he is still doing extremely well based on his past training, but for how long?
PREDICTION: Lochte’s a 4:07.7 to 4:08.2 shaved in the 400 IM at US WC Trials….
Yep, I agree. I also think Chase Kalisz will be not too far off that!
Mel, I just realized that I have been somehow missing all these “Gold Medal Minute” videos, and now I’m viewing them all to catch-up! Please accept my sincerest thanks to you and all of the staff at SwimSwam for what you do here! It used to be VERY hard to follow swimming and to remain informed and excited about the U.S. Swimming program between big international meets. In fact, I spent many an hour on the Omega website during competitions just staring at little blips on the screen to find out how the U.S. team was doing at major meets! Ugh! With SwimSwam I have the extreme PLEASURE of getting to know so much more about the stars of competitive… Read more »
I think Kalisz will be sub 4:03 by 2016… He’s got the right coach….
Your crazy Mel:) No way Kalisz goes under 4:03 in his lifetime.
Mel,
Are you thinking the rubbersuit will be allowed again in 2016?
DANJOHNROB….thank you, but Braden Keith, Davis Wuolle, Tiffany Stewart and Garrett McCaffrey are the people to thank. They’ve been there from the start and work far harder and smarter than I do. Gold Medal Minute’s been improving because swimoutlet loves to increase video quality whenever possible. We’re lucky they partnered with us before we ever had one view…. At swimswam, we are small team, but we’re growing and developing new platforms all the time. International rankings are on the list, among other things.
As for swimnews.com, they moved to swimvortex.com, including the rankings. And I second your praise for Swimswam. I love the high rate at which new posts are appearing, and the comments are great too in quality and number.
I agree– Up to date international rankings of years best times would be fantastic!!
You can’t swim a 400 IM in 4.07 in final after another in the prelims the same day around 4.15 if you haven’t trained very well during all season. It’s hard for me to believe Mr Lochte’s training has been as bad as he says. I don’t forget he has won 6 gold medals last December at the short course world championships with a world record in the 200 IM. Ok it was SCM, but you don’t have these results without a good training.
Bobo , i also beleive like you that Lochte can’t afford to be away of training too much ; especially when a world championships approaches . he is on good shape but he will have to choose the races he beleives he can medal at . He is still the best 400 IMer on the planet but the young ones ( like Kalisz ) are not far behind . On the 200 IM , he has more chances for a Good win . On 200 back , Murphy will probably put on a great show ( Clary as well ) and on 200 free ? 1.45…
….you know, he has a base of training that’s decades old. Also, he stayed fit during his time off and during the production of this show…
Mel, what would have to happen for Ryan to lose that base? I believe there was a lot of concern that he would not be “in-shape” for Worlds, but when you pointed out the base that was already there, suddenly the concern (at least for me) vanished. So you believe that even with the scaled down training regiment of post-London, he will be ok?
Does anyone have a guess as to where Ryan’s fitness level is as a result of all the post London distractions?
I love Lochte’s spirit in competition whatever he chooses to race . In My vieuw , he could do a very good 200 Free , 200 IM and 800 relay in Barcelona ….maybe a very solid 200 back as well depending on how he feels in 2 weeks . 400 IM ? not out of the equation but tough to add as well . We will all know pretty soon . Thanks for the very good work Mel .