KAZAN, Russia – Just before 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the “Star-Spangled Banner” rang out across Kazan Arena, and for once, an American flag rose to the rafters with someone other than Katie Ledecky standing beneath it on the top level of the medal stand. Here instead, and none too soon, was an old familiar face. The gold medal hanging around the neck of Ryan Lochte was his 16th in a FINA World Swimming Championships, and this one helped rescue Team USA from a situation that had been growing increasingly awkward.
Until a resurgent Lochte, 31, raced to a victory in the men’s 200-meter individual medley, Ledecky’s three individual golds were the only ones earned this week by the U.S. team. By the end of the night, thanks to Lochte’s win and a subsequent gold medal performance by the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay, anchored by Ledecky, the crisis appeared to have passed, at least for now.
[USA Swimming’s team director has never seen anything like Katie Ledecky]
“Hopefully this will get the ball rolling for Team USA,” Lochte said. “I’m glad I was able to do my part.”
Lochte’s win was his fourth consecutive in the 200 IM at the world championships, which are contested every other year, making him only the second swimmer in history to win the same event at four straight worlds, joining Australia’s Grant Hackett, whose fourth and final win in the men’s 1,500 freestyle came in 2005. With 24 total medals at worlds, he trails only longtime teammate Michael Phelps, who has 33.
As Lochte stood on the starting blocks Thursday, he was painfully aware of what was at stake. The United States was running out of gold medal opportunities as the meet crept toward the final weekend. He had already fallen short of the medal stand in his only other individual event, finishing fourth in the 200-meter freestyle.
On Wednesday, Lochte got a text message from Phelps – absent from worlds because he was serving a suspension for a DUI arrest at the time the team was chosen – reminding Lochte that, as an elder statesman, he had to be a leader and “push through” for his teammates.
“I definitely took that to heart,” Lochte said. “I’m one of the oldest swimmers now. I remember when I was one of the youngest. He’s right – I’ve got to be a team leader, getting them going.”
None of Lochte’s four medley strokes in Thursday’s race produced the fastest time for that lap, yet he still won with a time of 1:55.81, nearly a full second ahead of Brazil’s Thiago Pereira – a victory that underscored the fact Lochte may be the most versatile swimmer of his generation. Wang Shun of China finished third.
Lochte hit the final transition, from breaststroke to freestyle, with a new and controversial turn he only began practicing three weeks earlier. In the turn, he comes off the wall on his back, rather than on his front, as is customary. When he unveiled it during preliminaries, coaches from other countries protested to FINA, the sport’s governing body, and an emergency coaches’ meeting was held. Ultimately, FINA took no action, but Lochte was worried right up until the moment he stepped onto the medal stand that he would be disqualified.
“I’m going to keep doing this turn until I get disqualified,” he said. “We pulled a lot of data in practice. I only had two weeks in training camp to get this turn down. . . . I knew for me, as a swimmer, I swim faster underwater on my back than on my stomach. I might as well use it to the best of my ability.”
Though the race included neither Phelps nor Japan’s Kosuke Hagino – the top-ranked swimmer in the event from 2014, who is injured – it was a significant step for Lochte, an 11-time Olympic medalist, following an injury-marred 2014. With the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics now less than a year away, he is fully back in the gold medal picture.
Lochte remains one of the most popular swimmers on the planet, his every appearance here greeted with cheers and screams, his every move trailed by autograph seekers. At his news conference following Thursday’s win, he fielded a question from a female Russian reporter that sounded more like an invitation for a date – which he handled with aplomb, turning down the “interview request” but giving a straight answer to the reporter’s question.
“I never thought winning would take me this far, where fans are cheering for me or asking for my autograph or wanting to take my picture,” he said. “I think that’s one of the coolest things ever.”
In the women’s 4×200 free relay, Ledecky anchored a 3.04-second comeback victory for her fourth gold. Lochte won a record fourth consecutive title in the 200 individual medley.
“We had a great night,” Ledecky said. “We’re really getting some momentum and showing what we can do.”
Missy Franklin led off the relay for the Americans, and Leah Smith (U-Va.) and Katie McLaughlin kept them within striking distance of Sweden, which was under world-record pace for much of the 16-lap race.
Ledecky dived in and quickly pulled even with Swedish anchor Ida Marko-Varga. The American teenager opened a slight lead at 700 meters and extended it to a body length before powering home in 7 minutes 45.37 seconds.
It was the third straight victory in the 4×200 relay for the U.S. at the worlds.
Italy earned silver in 7:48.41. China took bronze in 7:49.10. The Swedes faded to fourth.
Ning Zetao of China led all the way to win the 100 freestyle in a race missing two key competitors. He touched in 47.84 seconds.
“This evening is the night I will never forget,” Ning said through a translator. “It is a dream of Asia, of China, to get gold medals in sprint distances, so I will have more confidence to prepare for the Rio Olympic Games.”
Ning swept the 50 and 100 freestyles at last year’s Asian Games, becoming the first Asian swimmer to break the 48-second barrier.
Cameron McEvoy of Australia finished second in 47.95.
Federico Grabich of Argentina was third in 48.12, earning his country’s first medal at a long-course worlds.
Olympic champion Nathan Adrian of the United States tied for seventh, Vladimir Morozov of Russia was disqualified for a false start in the semifinals, and defending champion James Magnussen of Australia was home with a shoulder injury.
“The Olympics will be completely different,” Grabich said. “Magnussen will be swimming, Adrian will be in better form. It will be much, much more difficult.’
Natsumi Hoshi of Japan rallied on the last lap to win the women’s 200 butterfly, and Fu Yuanhui of China won the women’s 50 backstroke, a non-Olympic event.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.