Although American superstar Ryan Lochte still has 3 months left to serve on his U.S. national team competition suspension, the 32-year-old has plans to return to racing. While ineligible to swim at the 2017 U.S. Nationals and, thus, unable to qualify for the World Championships in Budapest, Lochte is determined to get back into racing by way of the United States Masters Swimming (USMS) National Championship meet.
The USMS-sanctioned short course yards competition is scheduled for April 28th to May 1st in Riverside, California, with Lochte participating in the males 30-34 age group. According to the psych sheets available on usms.org, Lochte is entered to race the 50/100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 200 free and 100/200 IM.
After seeing his image take a major hit following the gas station debacle in Rio, Lochte has slowly been making a comeback in the way of positive public persona and resulting sponsorships. Whereas immediately following the post-Olympics drunken incident, long-time sponsor Speedo, among other organizations, chose to end its relationship with the 12-time Olympic medalist, since last summer Lochte has been able to slowly re-enter the limelight, most recently with his ‘Dancing With the Stars’ stint and his sponsorship with TYR.
Elite-level swimmers racing at a Masters National meet is not completely out of the norm, with Olympian Nathan Adrian having competed in the past. The 28-year-old is slated to race against Lochte this year as well in Riverside, as Adrian is entered in the 100 fly, 100 IM, 50 free and 100 backstroke.
So what does everyone think?
How fast will Lochte go in his comeback meet?
My predictions:
50 back: 21.5
100 back: 45.8
100 breast: 55.0
200 free: 1:34.0
100 IM: 46.7
200 IM: 1:43.0
Not incredibly fast I know. I feel like it’ll take a while to get back into it for Ryan.
I think a little faster in the breastroke maybe, but other than that those all seem like reasonable guesses. They really are just guesses at this point, since we have no idea what he’s been up to, really. I believe that a new training environment, fresh sponsors, and everything will benefit him (at least I hope) 🙂
Yes. ?I can wait for Ryan’s return. With Phelps retired… swimming needs Ryan Lochte.
Do US Masters swimming rules allow Ryan to turn on back on 200IM free turn or does he need to be on side/ stomach?
lol
In wonder what the unofficial fastest 100 IM scy is. It would be impressive to see a 45.
Matt Grevers did a 47.7 at a masters event a few years ago. I would think someone might be able to get in the 45 range, but it’s not going to happen at a Masters event (perhaps if they added it as an event at NCAA’s).
I remember watching a YouTube video of Ryan Murphy swimming a 46 100 yard IM in high school while wearing a full-body suit during practice. I’ll see if I can find it.
Who is he training with?
He’s training with Florida.
USC pro group
The right answer is both.
USC pros and Florida.
Just depends on where he is.
Welcome to U.S. Masters Swimming, Ryan Lochte!
Awesome to see Ryan back racing! Racing partying and boooooozin all you goody two shoes swimmers don’t like when swimmers party and race faster than you!
love this one — thumbs UP . Ryan is an exceptional swimmer . Usa would have had less success without him alone for the past 15 years . To see him back is great . His infamous Lochte turn is innovating & beautiful to watch . Not many see that anymore .