Lochte's Tokyo dream dies as Andrew dominates 200m medley at US Olympic trials
Murphy led all the way on the way to victory in 1min 54.20sec.
OMAHA (AFP) - Ryan Lochte s dream of a fifth Olympics ended in a seventh-place finish in a 200m medley won by Michael Andrew on Friday at the US Olympic swimming trials.
Andrew, 22, and assured of a first Games berth with is 100m breaststroke victory, was unstoppable.
He led by more than a second after the opening butterfly leg and was more than two and a half seconds ahead of Kalisz as they turned for home.
Andrew couldn t maintain the furious pace on the closing freestyle leg, but his time of 1:55.44 gave him a comfortable margin over 400m medley winner Kalisz, who secured his second Tokyo berth in 1:56.97.
Lochte, trying at 36 to become the oldest man to make a US Olympic swimming team, was never a factor, finishing in 1:59.67.
"Falling short and feeling like I let everyone down is one of the hardest things," Lochte said. "But I had my family there, my kids, they got to watch their daddy swim, that means everything to me."
Andrew called it an honor to race Lochte, whose 12 Olympic medals include six gold.
"He s a legend in the water," Andrew said of the swimmer whose 200m medley world record, set in 2011, still stands.
Lochte said he wasn t yet ready to officially call time on his career.
But he acknowledged that another Olympic bid, when he would be approaching 40, "would be pushing it."
His departure from the deck had a valedictory flavor, with hugs from Andrew and Kalisz as well as an embrace for wife, Kayla, son Caiden and daughter Liv before his longtime US teammate Michael Phelps made his way down to greet his old friend.
In other finals Friday, Abbey Weitzeil used a strong second lap to win the women s 100m freestyle in 53.53sec.
Erika Brown made an aggressive start in lane eight and led at the turn, hanging on to take second in 53.59. Olivia Smoliga (53.63) and Natalie Hinds (53.84) finished third and fourth to punch their tickets to Tokyo as potential relay swimmers.
The race was without Rio gold medallist Simone Manuel, who revealed after she finished ninth in the semi-finals that she had been battling overtraining syndrome.
"I am very proud of Simone," Weitzeil said. "I feel personally that we have big shoes to fill because she is an amazing competitor and huge part of Team USA."
Murphy doubles up
Ryan Murphy won the 200m backstroke at the US Olympic swimming trials on Friday to set up his bid for a second straight Olympic double at the Tokyo Games.
Murphy won both the 100m and 200m back gold in Rio, and after completing the double at the trials he ll have a chance to extend the US streak of winning every Olympic men s backstroke title dating back through 1996.
Murphy led all the way on the way to victory in 1min 54.20sec.
Bryce Mefford was second in 1:54.70 to claim the expected second Olympic spot.
Murphy, the world record-holder in the 100m backstroke, said he didn t feel any extra pressure to keep the US backstroke streak alive.
"Obviously I want to win, I m as competitive as anyone, but it doesn t make or break my life," Murphy said.
In the women s 200m breaststroke, Annie Lazor finished strong to beat training partner Lilly King -- the 100m breaststroke gold medallist in Rio who earned a chance to compete in both breaststrokes again in Tokyo.
King led at the 100m mark ahead of Emily Escobedo. Lazor, fourth at the halfway stage, pulled ahead at the final turn on the way to victory in 2:21.07, which made her third-fastest this year.
King touched in 2:21.75.
World record-holder Caeleb Dressel impressed in the 100m butterfly semi-finals, clocking a world leading 49.76 to lead the way into Saturday s final.
