Phelps Glides to a 1:57 in the 200 IM Semis; Who Will Be #2?

By Phillip Whitten

LONG BEACH, Calif., July 11. LIKE the women’s 200m breast, the men’s 200m medley appears to be about who will get the second spot.

Though none of his competitors will concede anything, Michael Phelps should have the 200 IM all wrapped up. He is far and away the fastest medley swimmer in history, an undeniable fact he demonstrated once again in tonight’s semifinals. Swimming a controlled, relaxed race, the 19 year-old phenom touched in 1:57.64, almost four full seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

The time is 1.7 seconds slower than Phelps’ mind-boggling world record, but it was his fifth time under 1:58. No other swimmer has ever gone that fast even once.

The battle for second should feature Eric Shanteau, who was third in the 400 IM; Ryan Lochte, the NCAA champ for the 400 IM; and Kevin Clements, Phelps’ training partner. Tonight, the three contenders swam within six-tenths of a second of each other: Shanteau, 2:01.46; Lochte, 2:01.86; and Clements, 2:02.05.

Clements is the only swimmer in the final beside Phelps to have broken two minutes.

On a sad note, Tom Wilkens, the 2000 Olympic bronze medallist in this event, missed making the final here by one-hundredth of a second.

RESULTS

Event 20 Men 200 LC Meter IM
==================================================================
World: W 1:55.94 8/9/2003 Michael Phelps, N. Baltimore
American: A 1:55.94 8/9/2003 Michael Phelps, N. Baltimore
U.S. Open: O 1:55.94 8/9/2003 Michael Phelps, N. Baltimore
Meet: M 2:00.20 3/11/1996 Tom Dolan, Michigan/CUBU
Oly. Tr. Cut: 2:06.99
Name Age Team Prelims Semis
==================================================================
=== Semis ===

1 Phelps, Michael 19 North Baltimore 2:00.71 1:57.64M
25.77 55.14 (29.37)
1:29.88 (34.74) 1:57.64 (27.76)
2 Shanteau, Eric 20 Swim Atlanta/Aub 2:03.07 2:01.46
26.84 58.23 (31.39)
1:32.13 (33.90) 2:01.46 (29.33)
3 Lochte, Ryan 19 Daytona Beach Sw 2:02.81 2:01.86
27.46 58.03 (30.57)
1:32.91 (34.88) 2:01.86 (28.95)
4 Clements, Kevin 24 North Baltimore/ 2:04.27 2:02.05
27.13 58.53 (31.40)
1:33.15 (34.62) 2:02.05 (28.90)
5 Margalis, Robert 22 Saint Petersburg 2:03.37 2:02.25
26.69 58.08 (31.39)
1:34.03 (35.95) 2:02.25 (28.22)
6 Hannan, Tom 24 King 2:04.30 2:03.49
25.85 57.71 (31.86)
1:33.92 (36.21) 2:03.49 (29.57)
6 Donnelly, Eric 24 Gator Swim Club/ 2:04.23 2:03.49
26.86 58.38 (31.52)
1:34.26 (35.88) 2:03.49 (29.23)
8 Liebhold, Timothy 21 Wisconsin Aquati 2:04.44 2:03.59
26.79 58.00 (31.21)
1:34.85 (36.85) 2:03.59 (28.74)
—————————————————————–
9 Wilkens, Tom 28 Stanford Swimmin 2:03.60 2:03.60
26.60 58.80 (32.20)
1:33.48 (34.68) 2:03.60 (30.12)
10 Bruckart, Joe 23 California Aquat 2:03.85 2:03.76
26.20 57.46 (31.26)
1:34.29 (36.83) 2:03.76 (29.47)
—————————————————————–
11 Mellors, Patrick 18 Jewish Community 2:04.46 2:04.13
26.78 58.56 (31.78)
1:34.00 (35.44) 2:04.13 (30.13)
12 Kahn, David 20 Longhorn Aquatic 2:04.80 2:04.91
26.96 57.83 (30.87)
1:34.18 (36.35) 2:04.91 (30.73)
13 Wike, James 20 New Trier Swim C 2:05.12 2:05.16
26.59 57.55 (30.96)
1:34.13 (36.58) 2:05.16 (31.03)
14 Fahey, Paul 21 Usc 2:05.03 2:05.75
27.27 1:00.16 (32.89)
1:35.96 (35.80) 2:05.75 (29.79)
15 Cady, Kurt 20 Auburn Aquatics/ 2:05.31 2:05.79
26.42 59.49 (33.07)
1:36.13 (36.64) 2:05.79 (29.66)
16 Swanson, Anthony 22 Northwestern U./ 2:05.32 2:07.17
26.83 1:00.79 (33.96)
1:37.52 (36.73) 2:07.17 (29.65)

=== Preliminaries ===

17 Montague, Joe 25 Cypress Fairbank 2:05.37
18 Mitchell, Adam 20 Minnesota Aquati 2:05.47
19 Dorr, John 20 California Aquat 2:05.51
20 Worby, Ben 22 Univ of Alabama/ 2:05.82
21 Greenwood, Bo 21 Nova of Virginia 2:05.86
22 Ridgeway, Paul 20 Longhorn Aquatic 2:05.97
23 Rehrmann, Stephen 21 De Anza Cupertin 2:06.06
24 Rollins, David 19 University Of Ar 2:06.33
25 Liscinsky, William 22 Curl-Burke Swim/ 2:06.47
26 Stephens, Mark 20 Dynamo Swim Club 2:06.48
27 Hamming, Mark 22 Northwestern U./ 2:06.53
28 Flores, Bayani 25 California Aquat 2:06.54
29 Clark, Jaffrey 23 Suburban Swim Ce 2:06.60
30 Newman, Keenan 19 Stanford Swimmin 2:06.61
31 Vayo, Louis 18 Fast Swim Team 2:06.93
32 Haupt, Matthew 24 Big Cat Aquatics 2:07.25
33 Clark, Ian 19 Suburban Swim Ce 2:07.30
34 Ransom, Kyle 19 Stanford Swimmin 2:07.35
35 Crowder, Robert 21 Sun Devil Aquati 2:07.51
36 Rathgeber, Geoffrey 18 Sonoco Swim Club 2:07.58
37 Connell, Roderick 18 Team Delaware 2:07.61
38 Scalise, Erik 26 Reno Aquatics 2:08.06
39 Bishop, Ryan 19 Baylor Swim Club 2:08.16
40 Mueller, Scott 22 Aggie Swim Club/ 2:08.61
41 Beasley, Matthew 20 Parkway Swim Clu 2:08.76
42 Monsees, Zachary 18 Santa Clara Swim 2:08.85
43 Nuess, Christopher 18 Spokane Area Swi 2:10.64
— Van Wie, Doug 20 Auburn Aquatics/ DQ

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