SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Michael Phelps has posted the third-fastest qualifying time in preliminaries of the 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. national championships.
Swimming easily and conserving energy for the Sunday evening final, Phelps met his goal of going under 2 minutes in an event that requires all four swimming strokes. He thought his time of 1 minute, 59.63 seconds would be good enough for the top seed, but he was edged out by Will Licon (1:58.50) and Austin Surhoff (1:58.80).
The time Phelps will be looking to beat in the final is Ryan Loche’s winning performance of 1:55.81 at the world championships in Kazan, Russia.
Phelps has already bettered the winning worlds times in both the 100 and 200 butterfly, putting him two-thirds of the way toward his goal at the meet in San Antonio.
Phelps was barred from worlds as punishment for his second drunken-driving arrest.
