Phelps and Lochte quickly distanced themselves from the rest of the field in the 200m IM and were even through the 150-meter mark, when Phelps pulled away. Lochte touched in 1:59.88, followed by Austrian Olympian Markus Rogan in 2:00.08.
A strong finish also made the difference in Phelps's win in the 100m free. Trailing Olympic teammate Jason Lezak (Irvine, Calif) at the turn, Phelps built on his momentum off the wall as he headed for the finish. Olympian Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill.) was second in 50.01, while Lezak was third in 50.08. "I felt awesome coming home the last 50," Phelps said. "Coming off the wall felt incredible. The first 50 didn't feel that great, but then being able to get in and out of the wall fairly quick and then building some momentum and speed coming off that wall, I just felt good."
The 200m IM was just the first swim of a tough triple for Lochte Saturday that included the finals of the 200m back and the consolation finals of the 100m free. He won the 200m back by more than a second over Canadian Matt Hawes (1:58.85). U.S. National Teamer Nick Thoman (Cincinnati, Ohio) was third in 1:59.66.
"I'm seeing spots right now," Lochte said. "That was probably the hardest triple I've ever done in my life. My legs are still kind of shaking from it. Overall swimming those events back-to-back in the matter of time that I did, I'm pretty pleased with the times I posted."
Missy Franklin (Centennial, Colo.) also faced a grueling schedule in Indy, swimming in six finals over the course of the meet. On Saturday, she finished on top of the women's 200m backstroke by about four and a half seconds over the rest of the field, turning in the second-fastest time in the world this year. Madison White (Danville, Calif.) was second in 2:12.49, and Canada's Britta MacLean was third in 2:12.70.
Franklin also won the women's 100m back Saturday with the fastest time in the world this year. She's currently ranked No. 1 on the USA Swimming Grand Prix leader board with 77 points. "I'm pretty tired," Franklin said. "A nice comfy bed sounds really nice right now. (My races) felt really good. I've definitely been training a lot more backstroke since this summer, and I've just been really trying to work on the small things. Tonight in my 200 (back), that was my first time under 2:08, so I'm really happy with it."
Olympians Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas) and Chloe Sutton (Mission Viejo, Calif.) also won multiple events this weekend. Vollmer won her third event of the meet Saturday in the women's 100m freestyle, turning in a time of 54.35. Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.) finished right behind in 54.70. Victoria Poon of Canada was third in 54.88.
Sutton won her second event of the meet in the women's 800m freestyle. That race played out as a rematch of last night's 400m free, with Sutton, Kate Ziegler (Great Falls, Va.) and Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) once again taking the top three spots.
The race between the three was a dead heat through about the 600-meter mark, when Sutton and Ziegler put some distance between them and Hoff. Ziegler then held less than a tenth of a second lead over Sutton until the final 50, when Sutton kicked it into overdrive, touching first in 8:29.20. Ziegler was second in 8:29.84, while Hoff was third in 8:33.24.
Other gold medalists Saturday night included Canada's Erica Morningstar in the women's 200m IM (2:12.59) and Tunisian Olympian Ous Mellouli in the men's 1500m free (15:04.16). Mellouli won three events overall, including the 400m IM and 400m free.
2010-2011 USA Swimming Grand Prix Swim Meet Series
- Minnesota Grand Prix 12-14 Nov, 2010
Minneapolis, MN - Austin Grand Prix 14-17 Jan, 2011
Austin, TX - Missouri Grand Prix 18-21 Feb, 2011
Columbia, MO - Indianapolis Grand Prix 3-5 Mar, 2011
Indianapolis, IN - Michigan Grand Prix 8-10 Apr, 2011
Ann Arbor, MI - Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix 12-15 May, 2011
Charlotte, NC - Santa Clara International Grand Prix 16-19 Jun, 2011
Santa Clara, CA
Television and online coverage will also be provided of all 2010-2011 USA Swimming Grand Prix events. Universal Sports will broadcast the Austin Grand Prix (January 14-17), the Missouri Grand Prix (February 18-21), the Indianapolis Grand Prix (March 3-5) and the Michigan Grand Prix (April 8-10). Online coverage of all seven events will be provided by Swimnetwork.com and Universalsports.com.
This is the fourth year in a row that prize money has been awarded to the overall point leader of the Grand Prix Series. In its inaugural year in 2008, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps took home the prize. The 2009 purse went to National Team swimmer Mary DeScenza and Chloe Sutton took home $20,000 in 2010.
The scoring system awards swimmers points based on gold, silver and bronze-medal performances at each of the eight meets. A gold medal earns a swimmer five points, a silver medal is worth three points and a bronze medal is one point. The standings integrate male and female participants, recognizing the swimmer with the highest cumulative point total. In the event of a tie, the winner will be the swimmer who earned the highest single-race FINA power point ranking. Leaders will be tracked online at www.usaswimming.org and in Splash magazine, the official magazine of USA Swimming.
