World champion Ryan Lochte of the US delivered the performance of the evening to win the men’s 400m individual medley at the Pan Pacific Championships on Thursday.
With Michael Phelps having failed to qualify for the final earlier in the day, Lochte swam under world record time for the first two legs of the energy-sapping race, before surging home in 4 minutes, 7.59 seconds.
Compatriot Tyler Clary touched second in 4 minutes, 9.55 seconds, with Brazil’s Thiago Pereira third in 4 minutes, 12.09 seconds at the William Woolett Jr Aquatics Center.
Lochte, who clinched the world title last year in Rome where Phelps notably skipped the event, began the race with a storming display over the butterfly and backstroke legs, before falling off the pace in the breaststroke.
“I just went out fast and tried to hold on for dear life,” the 26-year-old told reporters on a night when the US won seven of 10 finals. “I’m just going out there, having fun and racing. Whatever the outcome is, I’ll take it.”
World record holder Phelps failed to qualify from his heat earlier on Thursday after competing in the event for the first time since the 2008 Olympics.
Although the multiple Olympic gold medalist was fourth-fastest in the morning heats, he was beaten by Lochte and Tyler. Only two swimmers from each country were allowed to compete in the eight-man final.
Nathan Adrian of the US won a close battle for the men’s 100m freestyle, powering to the finish in a Pan Pacific record time of 48.15 seconds, while compatriot Rebecca Soni produced the third fastest time ever in the women’s 100m breaststroke.
Canada’s Brent Hayden was second in 48.19 seconds, with Brazil’s world record holder Cesar Cielo third in 48.48 seconds.
“I did a good job of swimming my own race and not letting what everybody else was doing affect me,” Adrian said. “It was time for me to step up internationally.”
World champion Cielo, who scraped through to the final in lane eight after other countries had reached their two-man limit, led after the first 50m, before being overhauled.
“I wasn’t thinking about medals,” the Brazilian said. “I didn’t feel I deserved to be in the final.”
Japan’s quadruple gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima won the men’s 100m breaststroke with a time of 59.35 seconds, having also dipped under a minute in the morning heats.
■DITCH RECORDS: CIELO
REUTERS, IRVINE, CALIFORNIA
Olympic and world champion Cesar Cielo of Brazil has called for all records set wearing high-tech swimsuits to be erased now that the sport has reverted back to costumes made from textiles.
Cielo, who holds the world records for the 50m and 100m freestyle, said the speedy times are now irrelevant given FINA’s decision last year to ban all-polyurethane suits in competition at the start of this year.
“The times we did last year should be gone,” Cielo told reporters after finishing third in the final of the men’s 100m freestyle at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships on Thursday. “It’s just messing with everybody’s head.”
The decision to ban the high-tech racing suits was made by the sport’s international governing body after 43 records were smashed at last year’s world swimming championships by swimmers clad in the new-generation suits.
Cielo set all of his top times wearing the high-tech racing suits that help reduce water resistance and increase buoyancy.
He set his world record 100m time of 46.91 seconds at last year’s world championships in Rome and grabbed the 50m record of 20.91 seconds in December in Brazil.
“I don’t see a reason to keep a 46.9 world record if we are barely breaking 48 [seconds],” he said. “The most important thing is winning, not breaking the world record.”
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