U.S. Olympic Trials: Ryan Lochte Edges Tyler Clary With Trials Textile Best to Win 200 Back

Full wall-to-wall coverage, including photo galleries, athlete interviews, recaps and columns are available at the Event Landing Page

OMAHA, Nebraska, June 30. RYAN Lochte added his second Trials title of the meet with a close call against Tyler Clary in the men's 200 back at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials. It took a Trials textile best to earn the triumph.

Lochte clocked a time of 1:54.54 for the win, edging the 1:54.74 Aaron Peirsol used to win the 2004 Trials title in Long Beach. Peirsol's overall Trials record of 1:54.32 set during the techsuit era here in Omaha in 2008 still stands. Lochte added the 200 back to his title haul this week after winning the 400 IM to start off the week. Lochte now has three individual events on his schedule with a win in the 400 IM and second in the 200 free, with two more events to go tonight.

Clary, who already earned a spot on the Olympic squad with a second-place finish in the 200 fly, went from finishing third in the 400 IM on night one and hoping he could even make the squad to now having a pair of individual events on his slate in London. Clary clocked a 1:54.88 tonight to secure that spot, just missing his personal best of 1:54.53. Lochte and Clary, along with Ryosuke Irie (1:54.02) are the only swimmers to have broken 1:55 this year.

Nick Thoman missed making the team in the 200 back after earning a spot in the 100 back with a second-place time. Tonight, he took third in 1:57.06. Ryan Murphy snared fourth in 1:57.39 as a 16-year-old prodigy in the sport, while Jack Conger raced to fifth in 1:58.97.

Rex Tullius (1:59.16), Jacob Pebley (1:59.46) and David Russell (2:02.52) comprised the rest of the championship heat.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use