Michael Phelps wins 200m freestyle gold at the 2011 Eric Namesnik Grand Prix – Swimming News
The 2008 Beijing Olympics champion, Michael Phelps, won the hearts of the arena with his dynamic performance on day one of the 2011 Eric Namesnik Grand Prix.
Phelps, who has always been crowd’s favourite, failed to provide a thrilling performance over the past few months, but now he owns the crown for the Men’s 200m freestyle.
Phelps produced a lazy swim in the 200m preliminary rounds that only managed to qualify him in the eighth place for the final. The 25-year-old Phelps was believed to ruin the hopes of his fan club in the final, but he clinched the gold medal with a stupendous
1:48.45 minutes.
North Baltimore’s Phelps was behind his rival Ryan Lochte of Daytona Beach in the first lap. Lochte, who had a quicker start, completed the first lap in a fastest time of 35.38 seconds, managing himself ahead of Beijing’s champion with a difference of 0.10
seconds only. Lochte’s lead continued in the second lap, where he clocked a time of 27.32 seconds to complete the first 100 metres of the race in 52.70 seconds, as compared to Phelps’s 52.76 seconds effort.
The battle continued in the third lap, where Phelps produced a considerable sluggish swim with a lap timing of 28.21 seconds, as compared to Lochte’s 27.82 seconds sprint. By the end of the third lap, Lochte was 0.45 seconds ahead of the Olympic Champion,
clocking a time of 1:20.52 seconds against Phelps’s 1:20.97 seconds.
Lochte proved himself as a top contender for the gold medal by advancing the arena’s favourite, but the tables turned after the last tumble, where Phelps’s unimaginably powerful turn placed him nearer to his strongest rival. Phelps, with his stronger stroke
covered the lead in the first 35 metres of the final lap and then touched the wall in a time of 1:48.45 minutes, to earn the gold medal. Phelps completed the last lap in an astounding time of 27.48 seconds, against Lochte’s 28.17 efforts.
Lochte earned the silver medal in 1:48.69 seconds and both of them were comfortably ahead of the third finisher, Trojan Swim Club’s Markus Rogan, who touched the wall in a time of 1:49.23 minutes.
The event witnessed Una Fast-CA’s Michael Klueh and Wolverine Club’s Peng WU ending in a draw for the fourth place with a timing of 1:50.24 minutes.
The gold medallist of the event, Phelps seemed quite happy with his success. He said that he enjoyed competing with Lochte in a neck-to-neck race. He also claimed that he knew before the race what he has to do, to reach the top of the podium.
Phelps also assured of his success at the upcoming 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, this July. He claims that he is working very hard to meet the crowd’s expectations at the World Championships, as it will be followed by the 2012 London Olympic Games.
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