After winning a gold medal as part of the United States’ 4×200 freestyle relay time Tuesday night, Ryan Lochte will make his Rio individual event debut Thursday afternoon. Lochte’s swimming in the 200 IM, and he’s part of heat four in the first qualifying round. Also competing in the 200 IM is Michael Phelps, who was also on the 4×200 free team, and the 21-time Olympic gold medalist will be racing in heat four. Other swimmers to keep an eye on in this race are Japan’s Kosuke Hagino, winner of two medals in Rio so far, and Brazil’s Thiago Perreira.
Not swimming in the 200 IM: Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, who won bronze in the event in 2012 with Phelps and Lochte finishing 1-2. The aforementioned Perreira finished fourth in this event in London.
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The women’s 100 free will get things started at the pool, with Americans Abby Weitzel and Simone Manuel swimming in heats six and four, respectively. Also swimming in heat six is Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, who took silver in the 200 free behind Katie Ledecky Tuesday night. Other swimmers expected to contend for a medal in this event include Australia’s Cate Campbell and Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands.
The 200 meter breaststroke preliminary heats for the men and women will be held Wednesday afternoon as well, with the United States being represented by Ryan Murphy and Jacob Pebbley in the men’s 200 breaststroke and Lillia King and Molly Hannis in the women’s 200 breaststroke. The final qualifying heats of the afternoon will be in the women’s 4×200 free, with the United States having its sights set on a fifth Olympic gold medal in the history of the event.
The only time the United States did not win the women’s 4×200 free: Beijing in 2008, when Australia took the gold, China the silver with the Americans settling for the bronze.
