OMAHA — Michael Phelps 3, Ryan Lochte 1. Round 1 goes to the reigning king of swimming.
However, the medals at the Olympic trials aren’t made of gold. They are in the London Olympics, where Round 2 begins this month. For what it’s worth, Phelps beat Lochte for the third time in four finals, winning his patented 100-meter butterfly in 51.14 seconds.
Lochte, possibly still exhausted from three races Saturday night, finished third behind Tyler McGill of the New York Athletic Club.
“It shows I can do a program like this at a high level again,” Phelps said. “I think we were struggling the last couple years of doing one event at this level. Being able to get a couple under the belt this week, we can build off this.”
Phelps and Lochte have split their last 10 races, but Phelps has won three of the last four. What they do over the next three weeks could determine how they fare in London.
Phelps’ time was well off his world record of 49.82. “It was a pretty crappy first 50,” he said, “and pretty terrible finish.”
Joyce qualifies for 50 final. Kara Lynn Joyce qualified fifth in the 50 freestyle as she tries for her third Olympic team, three months after leaving the Colorado Stars for SwimMAC in North Carolina.
Joyce, a four-time medal winner, came to Colorado after her coach at FAST in Fullerton, Calif., Sean Hutchison, left in December 2010.
Joyce thought the altitude would help, but her times never improved and she found herself surrounded by high school swimmers. SwimMAC also specializes in sprinters.
“I don’t think I ever felt the effects of altitude unless I was going up,” said Joyce, who clocked 24.97.
Dara Torres, seeking her sixth Olympic team at 45, qualified third in 24.80.
Jones wins 50.Cullen Jones of SwimMAC won the men’s 50 freestyle, and 15-year-old Kathleen Ledecky of the Curl-Burke Swim Club in Northern Virginia won the women’s 800.
Area roundup. John Martens of Mission Aurora Club finished 49th in the 1,500 freestyle in 15:52.79, and Alexander Nickell of the Loveland Swim Club finished 16:05.4 in the same race.
