Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte set up one final showdown to cap their glittering Olympic careers by qualifying first and second on Wednesday for the final of the 200 metres individual medley.
Phelps did not seem pleased with his timing of 1:55.78. Racing in the adjacen lanes in the second semi-final, Lochte finished at 1:56.28, a turnaround from the morning heats where Lochte was first and Phelps third.
Brazil’s Thiago Pereira, who had led the Americans after the butterfly and backstroke legs was second behind Phelps at the final turn, qualified third in 1:57.11 to give the home country a shot at a first medal in the pool.
In the same event at London in 2012, Phelps took the gold medal and Lochte won silver.
Phelps, 31, is bidding to become the first swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive Olympics, and to expand a career medal haul that has grown this week to 25, all but four of them gold.
Lochte, a year older, has 12 Olympic medals, six of them gold, and the 200 IM is his only individual event in Rio after taking gold alongside Phelps in Tuesday’s 4x200 freestyle relay.
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