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INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, July 8. INITIALLY, it looked like North Baltimore's Michael Phelps would run away with the men's 200 free title, but Longhorn's Dave Walters had some other ideas during the final half of the race.
Phelps, however, had enough in the tank to pull away from a hard-charging Walters with a winning effort of 1:44.23, just off his U.S. Open mark of 1:44.10 set at the U.S. Olympic Trials. The performance is the fastest in the world this year by far, with Germany's Paul Biedermann owning the previous best with a 1:44.71.
Walters, meanwhile, punched the wall in a personal-best time of 1:44.95. The effort clobbered his top time of 1:46.46, and put him third in the world this year behind Biedermann and Phelps.
"I knew something was going good for me," Walters said. "It happened so fast, you have to rely on your training and let the race do itself, if that makes any sense."
Daytona Beach's Ryan Lochte wound up taking third with a time of 1:45.73. The time also moved him behind Walters for fourth in the world this year, ahead of China's Zhang Lin (1:45.83).
Longhorn's Ricky Berens captured the fourth spot with a personal-best effort of 1:45.73 to beat his old time of 1:46.14. He also jumped in front of Zhang for fifth best in the world.
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