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GOLD COAST, Australia, August 22. FOR the second straight relay tonight, it took a special effort by an American anchor to deliver Team USA the gold. After Katie Ledecky made up more than a second to win the 800 free relay, Matt McLean gave training partner Michael Phelps his first international gold since returning from his 18-month retirement.
Entering the water at the same time as Takeshi Matsuda of Japan, McLean held off Matsuda down the stretch with a 1:46.44 anchor against Matsuda’s 1:46.58 as the U.S. won in 7:05.17. The U.S. foursome was made up of 3/4 North Baltimore Aquatic Club swimmers with Conor Dwyer, Phelps, Ryan Lochte and McLean taking the title for the Red, White and Blue.
Japan, meanwhile, took second in 7:05.30 with the team of Kosuke Hagino, Reo Sakata, Yuki Kobori and Matsuda. Australia’s David McKeon, Cameron McEvoy, Mack Horton and Thomas Fraser-Holmes finished third in 7:08.55. New Zealand (7:13.83) and Hong Kong (7:41.74) also competed.
Results
1 UNITED STATES 'A' 7:01.72 7:05.17 954
1) DWYER, CONOR 25 2) r:+0.44 PHELPS, MICHAEL 29
3) r:+0.20 LOCHTE, RYAN 30 4) r:+0.22 MCLEAN, MATT 26
r:+0.65 24.56 51.28 (51.28)
1:18.79 (1:18.79) 1:47.08 (1:47.08)
2:11.93 (24.85) 2:38.60 (51.52)
3:06.08 (1:19.00) 3:33.16 (1:46.08)
3:56.85 (23.69) 4:23.77 (50.61)
4:51.04 (1:17.88) 5:18.73 (1:45.57)
5:43.43 (24.70) 6:10.36 (51.63)
6:37.26 (1:18.53) 7:05.17 (1:46.44)
2 JAPAN 'A' 7:02.26 7:05.30 953
1) HAGINO, KOSUKE 20 2) r:+0.15 SAKATA, REO 18
3) r:+0.46 KOBORI, YUKI 20 4) r:+0.00 MATSUDA, TAKESHI 30
r:+0.66 24.96 51.86 (51.86)
1:19.30 (1:19.30) 1:46.13 (1:46.13)
2:10.07 (23.94) 2:37.10 (50.97)
3:04.66 (1:18.53) 3:31.91 (1:45.78)
3:56.45 (24.54) 4:23.93 (52.02)
4:51.27 (1:19.36) 5:18.72 (1:46.81)
5:43.39 (24.67) 6:10.66 (51.94)
6:38.03 (1:19.31) 7:05.30 (1:46.58)
3 AUSTRALIA 'A' 7:07.38 7:08.55 931
1) MCKEON, DAVID 22 2) r:+0.54 MCEVOY, CAMERON 20
3) r:+0.25 HORTON, MACK 18 4) r:+0.41 FRASER-HOLMES,OMAS 22
r:+0.69 24.77 51.53 (51.53)
1:18.91 (1:18.91) 1:46.85 (1:46.85)
2:11.87 (25.02) 2:38.77 (51.92)
3:06.79 (1:19.94) 3:34.97 (1:48.12)
3:59.27 (24.30) 4:26.68 (51.71)
4:54.72 (1:19.75) 5:22.03 (1:47.06)
5:46.37 (24.34) 6:13.20 (51.17)
6:40.99 (1:18.96) 7:08.55 (1:46.52)
4 NEW ZEALAND 'A' 7:16.36 7:13.83 898
1) STANLEY, MATTHEW 22 2) r:+0.27 DUNLOP-BARRETTYLAN 23
3) r:+0.17 KENT, STEVEN 26 4) r:+0.09 DONALDSON, MITHELL 21
r:+0.69 25.09 52.14 (52.14)
1:19.69 (1:19.69) 1:47.09 (1:47.09)
2:11.90 (24.81) 2:39.16 (52.07)
3:07.30 (1:20.21) 3:36.07 (1:48.98)
4:00.40 (24.33) 4:27.36 (51.29)
4:56.00 (1:19.93) 5:24.96 (1:48.89)
5:49.38 (24.42) 6:16.51 (51.55)
6:44.65 (1:19.69) 7:13.83 (1:48.87)
5 HONG KONG 'A' 7:27.16 7:41.74 744
1) CHEUNG, KENT 21 2) r:+0.42 NG, CHUN NAM 20
3) r:+0.32 KONG, KEI KOI 22 4) r:+0.28 WONG, DAVID 25
r:+0.74 25.92 54.95 (54.95)
1:24.89 (1:24.89) 1:55.77 (1:55.77)
2:22.06 (26.29) 2:51.32 (55.55)
3:21.56 (1:25.79) 3:51.64 (1:55.87)
4:18.42 (26.78) 4:46.85 (55.21)
5:16.65 (1:25.01) 5:46.39 (1:54.75)
6:12.66 (26.27) 6:42.17 (55.78)
7:12.53 (1:26.14) 7:41.74 (1:55.35)
Afterward, three of the members of the winning relay offered some thoughts on the swim via audio recordings by USA Swimming:
Phelps:
Lochte:
McLean:
This article is misleading. Katie came from behind and pulled ahead, with the fastest split overall. Fir the men, lochte had the best time, followed by Phelps. So McLean did hold off Japan, but the win was delivered by the veterans.
The TV coverage or at least someone doing a livestream is needed. The coverage is pitiful when you consider technology and thew fact that Phelps is swimming. The US(NBC) is acting like it is not even happening and offering one hour on Saturday when everything is over. Gee, I wonder why swimming fans are frustrated!
I agree,the coverage is awful. If USA swimming is trying to “grow the sport” they need to look for media coverage (even if they have to subsidize it) that keeps swimming in the public eye. Lochte and Phelps are really the swim-marketers dream team and they better take advantage of it while they can
Problem is, they think that no one will watch at 5am. Because finals are live in Australia, they don’t stream it. When USA Swimming was in charge four years ago, they streamed finals live. A very messy situation for anyone in the U.S. (or Canada, which is airing finals each night… 12 hours after the fact). Very hopeful that the next tv deal with include a) better streaming and b) a move from Universal Sports (never actually seen a tv with Universal) to NBCSN, which pretty much any cable package has.
Currently, aside from NHL, a simulcast of the Dan Patrick Show, and Pro Football Talk, you can find a lot of re-runs of fishing and hunting shows on NBCSN. Yeah, ahead of swimming.