The much anticipated matchup between Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps in the men's 400m IM, but there was no challenge as Lochte easily won the gold medal with a time of 4:05.18, which was more than three seconds ahead of Brazil's Thiago Pereira who won the silver meda. Japan's Kosuke Hagino took home the bronze, and Michael Phelps finished in a shocking fourth place in a time of 4:09.28.
The fourth place finish for Phelps was the first time he failed to medal since the 2000 Sydney Games. In fact, Phelps barely made it into the finals as he qualified in eighth place, and if he was .08 seconds slower we would not have made the finals.
Lochte dominated the race the entire way as he lead after the first 100 meters in butterfly, and then he broke away in the backstroke, his best event. During the breaststroke he created even more distance, and by the time he was swimming the last 100 meters of freestyle the race was already decided.
Phelps still owns the world record in this event and was the gold medal winner at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, but now the face of United States men's swimming belongs to Lochte.
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