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Michael Andrew looked to shake off his fourth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke with a strong preliminary swim in the 200 IM at the Tokyo Olympic Games to take the top seed.
In semifinals, Andrew has the fourth seed after finishing second in the second semifinal heat. A
It was a late charge from Wang Shun of China that took the top seed in 1:56.22. Andrew was second in the heat in 1:57.08, seeming to ease up in the last 10 meters a bit. It is the fourth seed overall as the first semifinal saw Great Britain’s Duncan Scott went 1:56.69 and Japan’s Daiya Seto was at 1:56.86.
Andrew led, as he does often, after the 150 mark, but the field caught up during the freestyle leg.
In the first semifinal, Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, swimming in his fifth Olympics, took the early lead but it was Great Britain’s Scott and Seto that overtook the lead and took the top two spots.
Scott won the heat in 1:56.69 with Seto second in 1:56.86 from Lane 8. Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches was third in 1:57.38 ahead of Cseh (1:57.64), Italy’s Alberto Razzetti (1:57.79) and USA’s Chase Kalisz (1:58.03), who won gold in the 400 IM earlier in Tokyo.
Kalisz did not qualify for finals.
The Olympic Finalists
1 Wang Shun, China, 1:56.22
2 Duncan Scott, Great Britain, 1:56.69
3 Daiya Seto, Japan, 1:56.86
4 Michael Andrew, USA, 1:57.08
5 Jeremy Desplanches, Switzerland, 1:57.38
6 Kosuke Hagino, Japan, 1:57.47
7 Lewis Clareburt, New Zealand, 1:57.55
8 Laszlo Cseh, Hungary, 1:57.64
Men’s 200 Individual Medley
• World record: Ryan Lochte, United States, 1:54.00 (2011)
• Olympic record: Michael Phelps, United States, 1:54.23 (2008)
The Setup
After opting to swim the 200 IM instead of the 200 Back, Mitch Larkin was through comfortably in the ninth-fastest time, bumped down by a fast final heat that produced the top three times and five of the six fastest.
The Aussie Larkin won the first circle-seeded heat, the fourth out of six, in 1:57.50, .01 ahead of the ageless Laszlo Cseh. It was undercut by the final heat, which was won by an attack-minded Michael Andrew in 1:56.40. He was followed by Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches and Lewis Clareburt of New Zealand bringing some outside smoke. Also from the heat was the fourth seed Hagino and Duncan Scott in fifth. In between was Chase Kalisz, the 400 IM champ, who pulled away during the backstroke leg to win Heat 5 in 1:57.38.
Scott recovered well given the mental and physical exertion of the morning session, where he helped Great Britain win its first relay medal in 113 years in the 800 free.
it appears that USRPT does not prepare one for the last 50 meters of a 200 IM; thoughts??
Well Wang Shun, peaking at age 27 here, is the far more-experienced competitive swimmer than Andrews, who needs more time to develop his all-around; he placed too-much emphasis perhaps, into the fly?