AFP, San Francisco :
A rejuvenated Ryan Lochte returned to competitive swimming for the first time in more than a year on Wednesday, insisting he was a changed man as he targets a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Lochte, who turns 35 on Saturday, booked his place at the US Olympic trials after clocking 1min 57.88sec in the 200 medley at the US National Championships in Palo Alto.
Although the time was nearly four seconds slower than his world record, five-time Olympic gold medalist Lochte was happy with his performance as he sets out on the comeback trail after a turbulent three years.
Lochte was suspended from swimming for 10 months after the scandal at the 2016 Olympics, when he was found to have fabricated a story about a robbery during a drunken late-night episode in Rio de Janeiro.
He was given a further 14-month ban last year by the US Anti-Doping Agency for taking a banned intravenous infusion of what he said were vitamins in May 2018.
