By Swimming World
LONDON, England, August 1. HUNGARY's Laszlo Cseh led the way in the men's 200-meter IM qualifying heats at the 2012 London Olympics.
Cseh was the only swimmer to break 1:58 with a leading time of 1:57.20. That effort nearly eclipsed the Olympic textile best of 1:57.14 posted by Michael Phelps to win the event in 2004. Cseh is the defending silver medalist, and is looking to breakthrough with his first Olympic gold medal. He has a healthy Olympic career haul with four medals to his name, but he has yet to ascend to the top of the podium. He won silver in three events in Beijing behind Michael Phelps, and took bronze in the 400 IM in 2004.
USA's Ryan Lochte completed a difficult double after qualifying in the 200 back as well. He posted a 1:58.03 in the event. Lochte is the defending bronze medalist, and currently has nine Olympic medals on his resume. He won silver in this event in 2004 as well, and will be looking for his first gold in the event.
Japan's Kosuke Hagino, who bumped Michael Phelps off the podium with a bronze-winning effort in the 400 IM, is looking for more hardware after qualifying third in 1:58.22. Japan has never medaled in this event since it first began being offered in 1968.
Phelps, meanwhile, will hope the third time is the charm as he looks for the elusive threepeat. He qualified fourth in 1:58.24. He missed out on defending his 200 fly and 400 IM titles earlier in the meet, but has a chance to accomplish the Olympic treble in this event. Only Dawn Fraser and Krisztina Egerszegi have won three straight titles in the Olympics.
Last night, Phelps became the all-time most decorated Olympic athlete with his 19th medal as part of the gold-medal winning 800 freestyle relay. He's looking to add to that tally.
Michael Phelps Olympic Rundown
2012 London
14 x 200m Freestyle Relay 6:59.70
24 x 100m Freestyle Relay 3:10.38
2200m Butterfly 1:53.01
4400m Individual Medley 4:09.28
?100m Butterfly
?200m Individual Medley
?4 x 100m Medley Relay
2008 Beijing
1200m Freestyle 1:42.96
1100m Butterfly 50.58
1200m Butterfly 1:52.03
1200m Individual Medley 1:54.23
1400m Individual Medley 4:03.84
14 x 100m Freestyle Relay 3:08.24
14 x 200m Freestyle Relay 6:58.56
14 x 100m Medley Relay 3:29.34
2004 Athens
1100m Butterfly 51.25
1200m Butterfly 1:54.04
1200m Individual Medley 1:57.14
1400m Individual Medley 4:08.26
14 x 200m Freestyle Relay 7:07.33
14 x 100m Medley Relay 3:30.68
3200m Freestyle2004 1:45.32
34 x 100m Freestyle Relay 3:14.62
2000 Sydney
5200m Butterfly1:56.50
Brazill's Thiago Pereira (1:58.31), Great Britain's James Goddard (1:58.56), Germany's Markus Deibler (1:58.61) and Austria's Markus Rogan (1:58.66) rounded out the top eight.
Japan's Ken Takakuwa (1:58.82), Brazil's Henrique Rodrigues (1:59.37), South Africa's Chad le Clos (1:59.45), Israel's Gal Nevo (1:59.56), Australia's Daniel Tranter (1:59.70), Lithuania's Vytautas Janusaitis (1:59.84), Great Britain's Joe Roebuck (2:00.04) and Canada's Andrew Ford (2:00.28) also earned spots in the semifinal heats.