Ryan Lochte of the US celebrates (R) with Japan's Kosuke Hagino after winning gold and bronze respectively in the men's 400m individual medley at the Aquatics Center Saturday. (At right) China's Ye Shiwen celebrates her 400m individual medley world record. – AP LONDON — Ryan Lochte turned his much-anticipated duel with Michael Phelps into a blowout, pulling away to win the Olympic 400m individual medley by more than three seconds Saturday night. Even more stunning: Phelps didn't win any medal at all. After barely qualifying for the evening final in a performance that hinted at trouble ahead, Phelps struggled to a fourth-place finish and was denied his 17th career Olympic medal. When it was done, he could barely pull himself out of the pool. “It was just a crappy race,” Phelps said. “I felt fine the first 200, then I don't know. They just swam a better race than me, a smarter race than me, and were better prepared than me. That's why they're on the medal stand.” Lochte took the gold with a time of 4 minutes, 5.18 seconds. Brazil's Thiago Pereira (4:08.86) settled for silver, while Japan's Kosuke Hagino (4:08.94) claimed the bronze — beating Phelps by a fairly comfortable 34-hundredths of a second for the last spot on the podium. It was the first time since the 2000 Sydney Games, when Phelps was a 15-year-old unknown who qualified in just one event, that he didn't win at least a bronze in an Olympic race. Since then, he was 16-of-16 — 14 golds and two bronzes. Lochte climbed out of the pool with a big smile, waving to the crowd and looking about a fresh as he did at the start. He had predicted this would be his year and, for the first race of the Olympics at least, he was right on the mark. Phelps was trying to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three straight Olympics. He'll have three more chances at a threepeat before he's done in London, having also won the 200m individual medley, plus the 100m and 200m butterfly, at Athens and Beijing. China claimed a couple of gold medals on the opening night of swimming at the Olympic Aquatic Center. Sixteen-year-old Ye Shiwen set a world record in the women's 400m individual medley — only the third mark to fall since high-tech bodysuits were banned at the end of 2009. She won in 4:28.43, breaking the mark of 4:29.45 by Australia's Stephanie Rice at the 2008 Beijing Games. American Elizabeth Beisel took silver and China's Li Xuanxu grabbed the bronze. Sun Yang flirted with a world record in the men's 400m freestyle. He took gold in 3:40.14, just off the mark of 3:40.07 by Germany's Paul Biedermann in a rubberized suit three years ago. South Korea's Park Tae-hwan was the silver medalist in 3:42.06, fortunate even to take part after initially being disqualified for a false start in the prelims. The ruling was overturned by governing body FINA a couple of hours later on appeal. Peter Vanderkaay of the US won the bronze in 3:44.69. Phelps still has six more events to swim in London, plenty of time to make up for his dismal start. He remains two behind the most medals won by any Olympian — Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina's mark of 18. Phelps put himself in position to swim another eight events with his performance at the US trials, but he decided to drop the 200m freestyle, feeling one less race would give his body a better chance to recover and improve his performance in the other events. — AP
