THE HOTLY ANTICIPATED showdown between Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps in the 200m freestyle at this year’s Swimming World Championships has gone the way of the former, after he clocked a stunning time of 1minute 44.44seconds to leave the Olympic phenom very literally trailing in his wake, a full 0.35 behind.
Lochte, whose new training regimen (focused primarily on lowering his McDonald’s intake) has seen him outperform Phelps in recent months, has established himself as the man to beat heading in to the rest of the Championships.
Paul Biedermann, who won the same event in Rome two years ago, was third, .09 of a second behind Phelps. Lochte’s time was over two seconds down on the German’s 2009 record, a time set before the competition ban on polyurethane bodysuits.
