200 IM - Prelims and Semi-Finals on July 29

Ryan will finally be swimming his first individual event at the world championships tomorrow - the 200m IM. The prelims are in the morning and the semi-finals are in the evening. For the prelims, Ryan is the top seed and will swim in Heat 11, Lane 4.

Although Ryan is seeded first in this event, as we've seen in the past couple of days, that does not automatically ensure he will advance to the semi-finals or the finals. In order to advance, I think Ryan will have to swim very fast in both races.

Here's what has happened in the prelims and semi-finals of some big meets in the past year:

At the 2008 Olympic trials, Ryan swam a 1:59.49 in the prelims (1st seed ahead of Michael Phelps' 1:59.70) and a 1:57.57 in the semi-finals (1st seed ahead of MP's 1:58.05). Then in the finals, MP finished 1st with a new WR of 1:54.80 and Ryan was 2nd at 1:55.22. In each race they were the only ones to go under 2:00.

At the 2008 Olympics, Ryan swam a 1:58.15 in the prelims and a 1:57.69 in the semi-finals, qualifying 1st both times. He swam a 1:56.53 in the finals, placing 3rd after Laci Cseh (1:56.52) and Michael Phelps (1:54.23 - current WR).

At the 2009 US nationals, there were no semi-finals...only prelims and finals. Ryan swam a 1:57.06 in the prelims and a 1:54.56 in the finals.

If Ryan wants to end up with a 1:54 low/1:53 high and break the WR, I think he's going to have to swim a 1:56 in the prelims and a 1:55 in the semi-finals. It's going to be a very fast field.

The top 8 swimmers in the 200 IM are:

1-Ryan Lochte 1:54.56
2-Eric Shanteau 1:56.00
3- Laci Cseh 1:56.52
4- Ken Takakuwa 1:57.24
5- Darien Townsend 1:57.88
6- James Goddard 1:57.99
7- Thiago Pereira 1:58.06
8-Bradley Alley 1:58.57

Laci Cseh is shown above shaving his head. He's ready to go despite a bad case of stomach flu earlier this week that caused him to be temporarilly hospitalized. I read a poorly translated article from Hungary, which appears to state that Cseh has recovered and been able to keep food down. He's a huge threat in the 200 IM if he's healthy. Guess we'll find out tomorrow.