Lochte wins gold in Shanghai, Phelps beaten by just three hundredths of a second

Michael Phelps (left) and Ryan Lochte (right)
Image credit: Getty Images

Michael Phelps settles for silver as teammate Ryan Lochte bags the gold in dramatic fashion in the men’s 200m freestyle at the World Championships in Shanghai as reported by various international news sites, July 26, 2011.

As reported, Olympian Michael Phelps leads the race going to the halfway mark however fellow American Ryan Lochte was able to stage a come from behind win with a time of one minute, 44.44 seconds as Phelps clocks in at 1:44.79.

"Michael and I have been battling head to head for about eight years," as Lochte reportedly told FINA’s (Fédération Internationale de Natation) official web after the victory. "We definitely build a good rivalry; he's a great competitor and I am just privileged to swim on the same team, even in the same event as him.

"Today, at this level we're at, we both want to win, we don't like to lose and no matter what the outcome is, we're still going to be friends and we're definitely going to be pushing each other for 2012,” he further adds.

As noted, Paul Biedermann, the defending champion from Germany, claimed the bronze medal.

Report reveals that, Phelps commented on the quality of the competition as he told FINA’s web site, "That was probably one of the best 200 freestyle fields and that was a close field; five guys in the 1.45, that's pretty good.”

"I would have wanted to win but this is something that is going to help me a lot for the next year,” he adds.