Lochte wins 200 IM at US nationals after 14-month ban
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Ryan Lochte won the 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. national championships, fresh off a 14-month ban.
The 12-time Olympic medalist touched in 1 minute, 57.76 seconds on Sunday — 1.07 ahead of runner-up Shaine Casas — to earn his first national title since 2014. Lochte’s time was quicker than his time-trial effort of 1:57.88 in the event four days earlier, which didn’t toward qualifying for the national team.
It was the lone victory and only final of the five-day meet for Lochte, who turned 35 a day earlier. He finished 37th in the 200 freestyle preliminaries, fourth in the C final of the 100 butterfly, and scratched the B final of the 100 backstroke.
Lochte was competing for the first time since the recent end of a 14-month suspension for receiving an infusion of vitamin B-12 above the allowable limit.