Ryan places 2nd in 200 back, Peirsol breaks WR

The 200m back was a tough race, but Aaron Peirsol won and broke Ryan's WR with a time of 1:53.08. Ryan placed 2nd with a time of 1:54.21. Tyler Clary was 3rd. By placing 2nd, Ryan qualified for world championships and will have the opportunity to regain his title and WR in Rome in 2 weeks.

Here's a comparison of the splits:

Peirsol: 26.82, 28.36, 28.88, 29.02
Lochte: 26.81, 28.52, 29.33, 29.55

Ryan will have to speed up the 3rd & 4th laps in order to beat Peirsol and Irie in Rome.

Ryan and Dana Vollmer (pictured below) won awards for scoring the most points in the meet. Ryan finished with two firsts (200/400 IM) one second (200 back) and one third (200 free).

Initial thoughts about the world championships: Ryan will swim the same events that he swam in Beijing: 200/400 IM, 200 back and the 4 x 200 free relay. I think he will also swim the 4 x 100 free relay given that his prelim time in the 100 free was the second fastest time at trials.

If he swims both relays, here is his tentative schedule:

Sunday, July 26
4 x 100m Free Relay
prelims and finals

Monday, July 27
nothing

Tuesday, July 28
nothing

Wednesday, July 29
200m IM
prelims and semi-finals

Thursday, July 30
200m Back
prelims and semi-finals
200m IM
finals

Friday, July 31
4 x 200m Free Relay
prelims and finals
200m Back
finals

Saturday, August 1
nothing

Sunday, August 2
400m IM
prelims and finals

At least Ryan doesn't have the 200 IM and 200 back finals back-to-back like in the Olympics, but on Thursday, July 30 he has to swim the prelims and semi-finals of the 200 back and the finals of the 200 IM. That's going to be a tough day. I hope it doesn't hurt his chance of breaking the WR in the 200 IM.