Ryan Lochte wins Men’s 200m IM semi-finals – 2012 London Olympic Games
World record holder, Ryan Lochte won the semi-finals of Men’s 200m Individual Medley (IM) on day five of the swimming events at the 2012 London Olympic Games in London Aquatics Centre on Wednesday, August 1.
The 27-year-old Lochte stayed prominently ahead of his following swimmer throughout the four-lap discipline and entered the playoff as top contender for gold medal. He showed no mercy to his opponents throughout the discipline and tapped the finishing blockade for first position.
With his invincible struggle, Lochte remained half body length away from his following rival and touched the wall with the timing of 1 minute and 56.13 seconds for top finish.
His astonishing pace remained 0.61 seconds faster from Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, who followed him into the playoff as second fastest finisher by posting a time of 1 minute and 56.74 seconds.
The Hungarian swimmer was chased by Michael Phelps of USA, who suffered a deficit of 0.37 seconds from him and made his way into the final round as third finest swimmer with an effort of 1 minute and 57.11 seconds.
Fourth finest qualifying position of the race was secured by Thiago Pereira of Brazil, who was 0.34 seconds apart and settled on the finishing wall with a timing of 1 minute and 57.45 seconds.
Similarly, Pereira was followed by Kosuke Hagino of Japan, who stayed half a second slower from him and qualified into the playoff as fifth best swimmer by producing a time of 1 minute and 57.95 seconds.
Hagino was trailed by his teammate, Ken Takakuwa, who remained 0.36 seconds behind and touched the wall with an effort of 1 minute and 58.31 seconds for sixth best position.
Afterwards, the audience enjoyed dazzling sprints of James Goddard of Great Britain and Chad le Clos of South Africa, who ended their swims in a joint finish for seventh position.
Both swimmer demonstrated their exhausting efforts in the final metres of the race and touched the wall with the timing of 1 minute and 58.49 seconds respectively.
Furthermore, Lochte expressed happiness over his fastest qualification in his main event after the race.
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