The Long Arm Of Lochte
2008-04-10
Craig Lord
Not to forget the swimmer in the suit, the second morning in Manchester witnessed one of the most versatile and skillful swimmers ever seen go through his paces: where there is doubt, the long arm of Lochte is likely to bring a touch of certainty

Not to forget the swimmer in the suit, the second morning of heats at the World s/c Championships witnessed one of the most versatile and skillful swimmers ever seen go through his paces with a smoothness and ease fit to make the most respectful of rivals green with envy.

Ryan Lochte began his 400m medley title defence with a 4:10.52, for sixth place through to the final behind a pack led by 20-year-old Brit Thomas Haffield (coached by Dave Haller in Cardiff), on 4:09.22. The American then clocked a 21.61sec to muscle his way among the sprint crew for the 50m freestyle semis (and watch for an upset there) and then raced last in the 4x200m freestyle, toying for seven lengths with a swimmer of the calibre of Commonwealth champion Ross Davenport (GBR) before ripping away on the last turn and opening up a bodylength lead in a show of strength on the way home.

The 21-year-old from Florida, coached by Gregg Troy, emerged from the medley to say: 'I just couldn't go any faster. That's all I had. I haven't really been training for the 400 IM so I wasn't expecting too much out of it but I've got the 200 IM to come so hopefully I can do a better job in that.' The job is not quite finished in the 400m yet and rivals will doubtless take Lochte's comments with a pinch of salt - if their wisdom stretched to watching what he did for the rest of his morning. Even in the midst of what for him is a training (for Beijing) exercise, Lochte is arguably the most dangerous swimmer in town. Where there is doubt, the long arm of Lochte is likely to bring a touch of certainty to the argument.

Britain's Fran Halsall, coached by Colin Stripe in Liverpool, gave a home crowd, largely made up of school children, much to cheer by breaking national records in the 50m butterfly (26.10) the 100m freestyle (53.24).