400 IM finals today - Ryan 4th in prelims, Clary 1st, Cseh 2nd

The prelims for the 400 IM took place this morning in Rome. The 8 qualifiers for today's finals are:

1 CLARY Scott Tyler - 4:10.04
2 CSEH Laszlo - 4:10.33
3 KIS Gergo - 4:10.99
4 LOCHTE Ryan - 4:11.05
5 HAFFIELD Thomas - 4:11.32
6 NEVO Gal - 4:11.51
7 MARIN Luca - 4:12.66
8 PEREIRA Thiago - 4:13.05

Ryan finished first in his heat, ahead of Luca Marin and Thiago Pereira. Pereira led most of the way, until the last 100 when he was passed by Ryan and Marin. From the splits, it looks like Ryan took it easy on the middle 200. He'll be able to go a lot faster in the finals.

Ryan will be in lane 6 in the finals, with Clary in lane 4 and Cseh in lane 5. My prediction is Ryan will finish 1st, Cseh 2nd, Clary 3rd.