OMAHA, Nebraska – Nathan Adrian won the 100m freestyle at the US Olympic swimming trials Friday, giving himself a long-awaited first shot at the Games' prestige sprint. “I've been hungry for an individual spot since I got that fourth,” Adrian said of his fourth-place finish at the 2008 trials, which gave him a trip to Beijing in the relay pool. “To actually get it feels really good.” Adrian clocked 48.10sec – making him the fourth-fastest performer in the world this year. He led at the turn and never looked back as Cullen Jones won the race for the second individual Games berth in 48.46 ahead of Matt Grevers (48.55). Only the top two book individual event spots, but the top six are likely to go to London as part of the relay pool. Rickey Berens clocked 48.80, Jimmy Feigen was fifth in 48.84 and Jason Lezak kept his hopes of a fourth Olympics alive with a sixth-placed finish in 48.88. Lezak, hero of America's 4x100m free relay in Beijing, only made the final after Ryan Lochte scratched, but the father of two made the most of his opportunity. Lezak, who swam only relays in his first Olympics in 2000, said it would be a nice symmetry to complete his Games career as a relay swimmer. In another major breaststroke upset, Scott Weltz won the 200 meters, leaving Brendan Hansen and Eric Shanteau with only one individual event at the London Games. The men's 200 breast was just as shocking as the women's 100, which was won by Breeja Larson over Rebecca Soni and Jessica Hardy. At least Soni got second place, still good enough for an Olympic berth. Neither Hansen nor Shanteau were as fortunate. Clark Burckle claimed the second spot on the Olympic team, another big surprise. Shanteau finished third and Hansen faded to fourth, which means they'll have to settle for only swimming the 100 breast in London after going 1-2 in that event at the trials. — AP
