Michael Phelps showcased some of his old speed at the Indianapolis Grand Prix, winning the 200-meter individual medley final in 1 minute 56.32 seconds. (Dilip Vishwanat/GETTY IMAGES)

INDIANAPOLIS — As Michael Phelps stood poolside doing a television interview moments after claiming the gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley final at the Indianapolis Grand Prix on Saturday night, Ryan Lochte emerged slowly and grimly from the water, his chest heaving and cheeks red.

Phelps, the reigning Olympic champion in the event, dominated to earn a victory in 1 minute 56.32 seconds, claiming his third gold medal and fourth overall of this three-day meet. Lochte, who broke Phelps’s world record in the event last summer, settled for his second bronze of the night — and only his second medal in six events at this meet. He finished in 1:59.37.

As Phelps thrived at this tune-up meet for the July U.S. Olympic trials, showcasing some of his old speed even without taking a break from hard training, Lochte, the most dominant swimmer in the world last year, seemed largely quiet and out of sight.

He didn’t even qualify for the A finals in the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly Thursday. He did not get within stepping distance of the top of a medal stand. He swam out of Lane 1 in the 200 medley final.

Yet he showed not a hint of concern after Saturday’s races. As is customary for Lochte at this time of year, he is in the midst of brutally hard training. He has refused to wear the jammer suits that offer at least a slight speed edge; instead, he wore colorful briefs for all of his races here. And he took on a challenging double Saturday night: Just 30 minutes before the individual medley final, he placed third in the 100 backstroke final.

“I’m seeing spots right now,” Lochte said shortly after the second race.

Phelps, though happy with his times and medal haul here, said he wouldn’t think of reading anything into Lochte’s invisibility.

“He’s there when it counts,” Phelps said. “I know that. . . . As long as you’re there at the right time, that’s all that matters. He always is.”

Phelps couldn’t get excited about beating Lochte, but he drew encouragement from his own performances. He finished second to Nathan Adrian in the 100 free, won the 100 fly, then won the 400 individual medley in his fastest in-season time ever. Saturday offered another reason for optimism: He said his time in the 200 medley was a half-second faster than last year at this time.

“I’m probably like, on a scale of one to 10, maybe like a 7¹/₂ to 8,” he said. “I’m heading in the right direction.”

Lochte’s training team in Gainesville, Fla., under Coach Gregg Troy just completed its hardest segment of training of the season, with six lighter weeks ahead. The routine has been the same for Lochte since the 2008 Summer Games, and though it looks ugly at meet like this, it’s worked pretty well.

Last year, Lochte beat Phelps twice in head-to-head races at the August world championships in Shanghai and broke Phelps’s world record in the 200 medley. The year before, he dominated at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, Calif., as Phelps struggled.

In the men’s 100 backstroke Saturday, Lochte tied for third in 54.75 as Nick Thoman won the gold in 53.95.

“The times are irrelevant to me,” Lochte said. “I just know all of that hard work that I’ve been doing . . . is going to pay off.”

It’s difficult to draw conclusions about anyone from the times or performances at mid-season meets such as this. Great Falls’s Kate Ziegler and Towson’s Katie Hoff, who won five gold medals between them at the 2007 world championships, used this grand prix as their first test under their new, old coaches. Both returned to the coaches of their youth this year, leaving the Fullerton, Calif., post-graduate training center each joined after the 2008 Summer Games.

Ziegler returned to Virginia in late March to train under Ray Benecki of the FISH; Hoff moved to Naples, Fla., in January to rejoin Paul Yetter, her former coach at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club who now leads a training group on Florida’s west coast.

“I felt like I needed to be in a place I felt 100 percent confident,” Hoff said. “Paul’s training always suited me as far as giving me that confidence.”

Hoff finished second in the 400 free, fourth in the 200 free, 10th in the 100 free, sixth in Saturday’s 200 individual medley final (2:14.99) and 13th in the 200 fly (2:18.07). Ziegler was sixth in the 400 free, 22nd in the 200 free and second in Saturday’s 800 final (8:33.86). Both say they are adjusting to their new training regimens.

“I felt my training wasn’t where I wanted it to be,” Ziegler said. “Ray and I left on great terms and we stayed on great terms. . . . And the best thing is just being back with my family.”

Michael Phelps looks up at the scoreboard after the men's 400-meter individual medley final at the Indianapolis Grand Prix. Phelps held off Tyler Clary to win the event in 4 minutes 12.51 seconds. (Darron Cummings/Associated Press)

INDIANAPOLIS — Michael Phelps hates the 400-meter individual medley. He hates the pain it produces. He hates the training time it requires. He hates the mental toll it exacts. Since he won a gold medal in the event at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, he has sworn he will never swim it again in another Olympics.

Yet he sounded very much Friday night as if he were leaning toward adding it to his program at the U.S. Olympic trials in July, a decision that would set up a huge, highly anticipated confrontation on Day 1 with rival Ryan Lochte, the current 400 IM world champion.

“It’s a race that means a lot to us as a country and for me, somebody who has swum it so many times,” Phelps said. “If it happens, it would start everything off on an exciting note.”

About an hour earlier, Phelps won the 400 individual medley final at the Indianapolis Grand Prix in 4 minutes 12.51 seconds, topping Tyler Clary, who came home in 4:13.01. Though Phelps’s time was about nine seconds off of his world record, it was actually — and somewhat amazingly — the fastest Phelps had ever swum in-season, he and his coach said, including leading up to the 2008 Summer Games.

“I’m definitely happy,” Phelps said. “Who knows [about the Olympics]? . . . I would have to do that well and then be able to come back and swim a bunch of other events well.”

Added Phelps with a grin, reminded that he said he would never swim the 400 medley again: “Yes, it is different than what I said before. I understand that.”

Phelps’s coach, Bob Bowman, admitted in 2009 that it was his “dream” for Phelps to take up the 400 medley after dispensing with it after the Beijing Games. NBC executives may very well have the same dream, and they could be hyperventilating over the possibility of a Phelps-Lochte showdown to open the swimming competition at the 2012 Summer Games in London.

“I know he hasn’t done it in the three years since ’08, but it’s coming up to an Olympic year and he’s done the training,” Lochte said. “He knows he’s capable of doing it. I told myself, ‘He’s going to do it again.’ There’s no doubt in my mind. I honestly think he’d be dumb if he didn’t.”

In other news Friday, teen star Missy Franklin claimed a pair of medals, winning gold in the 200 backstroke in 2:07.97 and silver in the 200 freestyle (1:57.97) behind Allison Schmitt (1:56.79); Towson’s Katie Hoff placed fourth in 1:58.64. Lochte, who is in the midst of heavy training, finished fourth in the 200 backstroke in 1:59.34 and did not compete in the 200 freestyle.

Dara Torres, 44, finished sixth in the 50 freestyle final in 25.47, a respectable time after the 25.36 she posted to take second in the morning heats. Madison Kennedy won the gold in 24.99. In the men’s 50, Nathan Adrian claimed the gold in 21.88 as Anthony Ervin took the bronze in 22.24. Ervin, 30, returned to swimming last year after an eight-year absence; he won gold in the 50 free at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney.

In the 400 individual medley, Phelps was pushed hard by Clary, who took the lead on the backstroke leg but surrendered it during the breaststroke. Phelps came home fast, determined to hold off Clary.

“It is interesting,” Bowman said about Phelps’s surprising time. “He just killed himself to do that. He had to gut it out. . . . But our goal was to break [4:]15. He’s in pretty good shape to do that time — obviously.”

Though Bowman pointed out that the 400 individual medley presents a grueling way to kick off an Olympics, the only thing really standing in the way of Phelps’s swimming the event at the U.S. Olympic trials is Phelps. Even Phelps’s mother Debbie has tried to persuade her son to return to one of his signature races. It interferes with nothing else on the Olympic schedule.

“He said he’s never swimming it again,” Bowman said before the race. “I never said he’s not doing it again.”

Phelps has wrestled with the 400 medley since Beijing. He swam the event in yards in 2009 in an unsuccessful attempt to regain his old world record at that distance. He took it up for the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, but performed so abysmally he didn’t advance out of the morning finals.

After that, he announced that he was done. The 400 individual medley was finished.

But not really. He unveiled it at the Austin Grand Prix two months ago, putting up a time of 4:16.95 to win the event.

“There’s a crack in the door,” Bowman said. “Maybe a bigger crack than the other night.”

Michael Phelps competes in the 100-meter butterfly at the Indianapolis Grand Prix swimming meet. (Michael Conroy/AP)

INDIANAPOLIS —A couple decades ago, college-age kids and teens populated swimming. The advent of professionalism and sponsor dollars led to a new era dominated by full-grown, post-graduate men and women.

This season has brought another trend. It’s suddenly very hip to be 30-something – or older — and back in the pool seeking a spot at the 2012 Summer Games in London after several years, or even a decade, of retirement.

The Indianapolis Grand Prix showcased a handful of former retirees preparing for another Olympic run Thursday. There was four-time Olympic medalist Brendan Hansen, 30, who ended a 2¹/_2-year retirement with the hope of making his third Olympic team. He finished fourth in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke final Thursday night with a time of 2 minutes 13.93 seconds.

“It’s definitely been a test of patience,” Hansen said. “I told myself I was never going to compare myself to where I used to be. . . . But everybody else does that.”

Swimming in the lane next to him was the top American in the sport before Hansen took over: Lake Braddock High’s Ed Moses, 31, who returned to competition last year after more than six years out of the sport. A two-time medalist at the 2000 Summer Games, Moses faces a considerable challenge to make this year’s Olympic team, but he qualified for the night’s A final and finished seventh overall in 2:16.08.

“It’s going to be tight on time,” said Moses, who attended the University of Virginia. “I knew that when I started. It’s going to be hard. . . . That doesn’t deter me, though, from believing I can do it.”

Another ex-retiree, Anthony Ervin, 30, placed 16th overall in the 100 freestyle (50.85). Ervin, who won a gold in the 50 free at the 2000 Summer Games, took about eight years off before pursuing a comeback last year; he has posted surprisingly fast times in his specialty, which will be contested Friday. Ervin enters with the ninth-fastest qualifying time (22.27)

Ervin, Hansen and Moses represent just a few of the former superstars who ditched their goggles for a few years, but couldn’t stay away. Janet Evans, the one-time teen phenom who retired at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, will compete at the Olympic trials in Omaha in June, a long shot to make her fourth Olympic team at 40 after 15 years out of the sport.

One of the greatest swimmers in history, Australian Ian Thorpe, came out of retirement last year, but his bid to make Australia’s Olympic team failed less than two weeks ago at his nation’s Olympic trials. Libby Trickett, Michael Klim and Geoff Huegill also un-retired to compete.

“When I was growing up, swimming seemed like something you did through college . . . then the rigors of adult life kind of consumed you,” said Ervin, who was in graduate school last year at the University of California when he decided to resume training with the college team a year ago. “At the turn of the millennium, there were notable differences in how it’s been professionalized.”

Results here mean little as few of the swimmers are in top form and many, including 2011’s most dominant male swimmer, Ryan Lochte, are smack in the middle of heavy training. Lochte finished ninth in the 100 freestyle in 49.46 seconds as Nathan Adrian (48.62) topped Michael Phelps (48.74) for the gold medal — despite the fact that Adrian’s jammer shorts split in the back seconds before the race.

Later, in the 100 butterfly, Phelps claimed the gold medal in 52.23 and Lochte got ninth in 52.32. In the women’s 400 free, Towson’s Katie Hoff claimed second in 4:07.00 and Kate Ziegler of Great Falls placed sixth in 4:12.98.

One reason Hansen said he didn’t want to compare himself to his old self was that he didn’t want to finish the same way he did in 2008. After winning individual silver and bronze medals at the 2004 Summer Games in the 100 and 200 breast, he finished fourth in the 100 breast in Beijing, his only individual event.

Demoralized and burned out, Hansen got out of the sport fast. He dived into triathlons and helped manage a nutritional supplement company. He had no intention of returning, but missed the competition.

“A lot of the expectations and pressure I had in ’08 was from myself,” Hansen said. “How you react to yourself is really important in how successful you are. Now, I’m going out there with a clear head, a refreshed outlook.”

Moses tried professional golf and a marketing job in Los Angeles. But he never found the same level of success he hit in the swimming pool just a couple years out of high school.

“He’s a competitor,” Hansen said. “He’ll be there racing, no matter what. It’s just that he may run out of time.”

So might they all.

Can’t wait to see Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte race head-to-head? Eager to see whether Lochte proves as worthy a challenger to the best swimmer of all time as he did last summer?

Ryan Lochte congratulates Michael Phelps on his victory in the 200-meter individual medley at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. (Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

Well, you won’t see any of that Thursday night at the Indy Grand Prix in Indianapolis — even though both are scheduled to swim in the 100-meter freestyle and 100 butterfly finals at the Indiana University Natatorium.

Lochte, who as usual this time of year is buried in heavy training, didn’t advance to either A final in the morning preliminaries.

His 14th-place effort in the 100 freestyle (50.51 seconds) and 12th in the 100 fly (54.41) earned him slots in the evening’s B final. Phelps got third in the 100 fly in 53.19 and seventh in the 100 free in 50.16.

In other news, a host of 30-somethings splashed around Thursday morning, all on the comeback trail. Anthony Ervin, who tied training partner Gary Hall Jr. for a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney in the 50 free, returned to competition last year after an eight-year absence from the sport. Ervin, 30, made it to the night’s C final of the 100 free. His time of 50.38 was 11th-best.

The men’s 200 breast featured two Olympic stars of old, Brendan Hansen, 30, and Lake Braddock High’s Ed Moses, 31. Both qualified for the evening’s A final, with Moses claiming the sixth-fastest time of the morning (2 minutes, 16.33 seconds) and Hansen, fifth-best (2:15.55). Moses won a gold and silver at the 2000 Summer Games, then took seven years off before returning to the sport last year; Hansen, a four-time Olympic medal winner, retired for nearly three years after his second Olympics in 2008.

Also noteworthy: Towson’s Katie Hoff is swimming in her first meet since returning to her old coach, Paul Yetter, in January. Hoff, who grew up swimming under Yetter at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, has spent the past few years in California but rejoined Yetter at his new team in Naples, Fla.

Great Falls’ Kate Ziegler is also back with her old coach, Ray Benecki, of the FISH. She also returned after training in Fullerton, Ca., under Jon Urbanchek.

At the Austin Grand Prix, Phelps beat Lochte by nearly two seconds, winning in 1 minute 58.52 seconds. Lochte came in well ahead of third in 2:00.30.

Both athletes were unrested for the competition, which may account for the lackluster performances by Lochte, who is known for under performing until he’s on taper.

What is apparent from this weekend is that the title of “World’s Best Swimmer” is far from decided, we’ll have to wait for London 2012 before bestowing that designation on either Phelps or Lochte.

Also in the water on Sunday, Sarah Haase, the reigning All-Met Swimmer of the Year from Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club, placed sixth overall in the women’s 100 breaststroke, finishing in 1:09.78. She was the highest finisher among the group of Potomac Valley swimmers that competed this weekend. Rebecca Soni won the event in 1:06.88.

Former area swimmer, Matt McLean, finished fourth in the men’s 1500 freestyle (15:42.46), just behind Thomas Allen and Peter Vanderkaay. Michael Kleuh won the event by a wide margin, finishing in 15:25.33.

Allison Schmitt got her third win in the freestyle events, winning the women’s 800 freestyle on Sunday. She also won the 400 freestyle in record-breaking time on the opening night.

Matt Grevers touched first in the men’s 100 backstroke in 53.55, against a fast field that included Phelps – finished third – and Lochte – finished sixth, who swam very busy schedules this weekend, including the subsequent event. Jack Conger (RMSC) finished 12th overall in 56.28.

Missy Franklin won the women’s 100 backstroke in 59.92 for her second win this weekend.

Natalie Coughlin won the women’s 200 IM (2:12.44), just beating out Katie Hoff who touched in 2:12.95. This will be one of the most competitive events at Trials this year, with the likes of Caitlin Leverenz, Elizabeth Pelton, and Elizabeth Beisel joining the field in Omaha.

For complete results from the first night of the Austin Grand Prix, click here.

At the first turn, Phelps was over a second ahead of the field, and was on pool record pace until he slowed in freestyle, showing obvious signs of fatigue. Heading into his fourth Olympics, many wonder how many more miraculous performances Phelps has left like what he showed in Beijing in 2008.

Phelps, who could qualify in eight events like he did in the last Olympics, will probably choose a slightly abbreviated schedule in London, especially with a surging Ryan Lochte challenging Phelps in the individual medley events. They’ll meet in Sunday’s 200 IM final.

Phelps wasn’t the only Maryland swimmer to open the night well. RMSC’s Charlotte Meyer (17) dropped five seconds from her prelims time to win the “C” Final in the women’s 400 IM in 4:56.19, a new personal best.

Jack Conger (17) won his heat in the “B” Final of the men’s 200 backstroke in 2:02.77. Matt Grevers was the winner in the “A” Final in a time of 1:57.76. Lochte faded to third in 1:59. 53, despite having the lead after the first lap.

Allison Schmitt won the women’s 200 freestyle in 1:55.83, for her second win. She bested Missy Franklin, who placed second in 1:57.86.

Ricky Berens and Matt McLean (Sterling, Va.) battled in the men’s 200 freestyle. Berens took an early lead, before McLean surged ahead in the third length. But a blistering split in the final 50-meters sealed the win for Berens, who won in 1:47.92. McLean finished second in 1:48.02.

Amanda Weir continued to impress in the freestyle events, winning the women’s 50 freestyle in 25.23. Weird finished third in the 100 freestyle, last night, behind  Franklin and Schmitt.

To conclude the night, the relay team of Sarah Haase (17), Ellen Anderson (17), Anna Kolanowski (16), and Corrigan McIlmail (15) finished fifth in the 4×800 freestyle relay for RMSC.

For complete results from the first night of the Austin Grand Prix, click here.

Swimmers to watch on last day of finals

If you can only catch one race from tonight’s finals, the men’s 200 IM will be worth making time for. Phelps and Lochte are both training through this weekend’s events, but that doesn’t mean these competitors don’t want to win.

The reigning Olympic champion, Phelps, is the top qualifier, but Lochte, the world record holder, will be right beside him, in what will most certainly be a preview of this year’s Olympic final.

Haase is the number two qualifier in women’s 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:09.45, a new personal best for the 17-year-old senior. She’ll face Rebecca Soni in tonight’s final, the 2008 silver medalist in the event.

Franklin was the top qualifier in the women’s 100 backstroke in 1:00.74, but expect a great race from Olympic champion Natalie Coughlin, who will be right beside Franklin in tonight’s final.

The women’s 200 IM will feature Katie Hoff, Coughlin, and Franklin, along with Canadian Olympian Julia Wilkinson, who will be right on the American’s heels.

The men’s 100 backstroke will feature Nick Thoman and Matt Grevers as the top seeds, along with Michael Phelps who qualified fifth. Conger advanced to the “C” Final. Lochte will appear in the “B” Final.

Finals begin at 7 p.m. USA Swimming will have a live webcast of the meet online throughout the weekend. For additional information visit www.usaswimming.org/grandprix.

Right from the start of the medley relay, Natalie Coughlin, swimming the backstroke leg, was 1.5 seconds under the world-record split. Her teammates Rebecca Soni and Dana Vollmer didn’t fall off the pace, allowing Franklin to dive in with the world-record line in her wake.

The 16-year-old dazzled in the anchor spot, with a blistering 51.32 split to break the world record by over two seconds in  3 minutes 45.56 seconds.

Franklin continued to build her international resume, which includes three world championship gold medals, with first-place finishes in the 200 backstroke and 200 freestyle. She was just .11 off her own world record in 2:00.14. Using her final two walls, she broke free from Elizabeth Simmonds (Great Britain) and Elizabeth Pelton (USA) to win the race.

ATLANTA, GA - Jessica Hardy reacts after winning the Women's 100m Breaststroke during the Duel in the Pool at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center on December 17, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

The United States commanded the dual meet from start to finish, enjoying a lead of 93.5 to 28.5 after the first day of competition against the European All-Star team that looked tepid at best and unprepared to challenge the American team.

Virginia star, Matt McLean (SNOW/Potomac Falls High School) enjoyed success in the freestyle events, taking third on the Friday night in the 400 freestyle and following up that performance on Saturday by coming from behind to take second in the 200 freestyle.

Former Mount Vernon High School and Curl-Burke swimmer, Markus Rogan (Austria) finished third in the 200 individual medley behind the event’s winner, Ryan Lochte, and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, who took second.

Ryan Lochte of the U.S. (bottom) starts alongside Europe's Radoslaw Kawecki of Poland in the men's 200 meters backstroke race during the Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool swimming competition at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia December 16, 2011. (Tami Chappell/Reuters)

Swimming un-tapered, Lochte looked like a different person in the water after a disappointing Winter Nationals two weeks ago in this same pool, where his highest finish was fifth in the 400 individual medley. He cruised in the 200 backstroke, torpedoing off every wall and working his underwaters in the short-course format. Winning both individual medley events, he looked like the favorite to win as many as eight gold medals next year in London.

Also looking good this weekend after coming out of retirement, Brendan Hansen pulled off an amazing upset on Friday night, knocking off the world-record holder Daniel Gyurta to win the 200 breaststroke in a personal best time of 2:03.62. The next day the 30-year-old comeback swimmer brought more of the same to win the 100 breaststroke in 57.47.

Caitlin Leverenz was just .3 off the world record in the 200 individual medley in 2:04.91, one of the strongest events for the American women. This will certainly be one of the toughest events to make next year in Omaha at the Olympic Trials, where Duel teammates Pelton, Julia Smit, and Olympian Katie Hoff will challenge for a spot in the event.

To open day two, distance freestylers Lotte Friis (Denmark) and Pal Joensen (Faroe Islands) won the women’s and men’s 800 freestyle to give the European team some life. But it proved to be too little, as the American team rolled up the meet with several sweeps.

The United States clinched the meet early on Saturday, earning the necessary 131 points to win the meet with nine events to go.

Despite the lopsided score, the Europeans didn’t walk away empty handed, winning several events. Katinka Hosszu (Hungary) won the women’s individual medley ahead of Leverenz in 4:24.37 and Ranomi Kromowidjojo (Netherlands) won the 100 freestyle in 51.87. Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh won the 200 butterfly with a brilliant final 50 meters, against an American field sorely missing superstar Michael Phelps.

To close the meet, the European All-Stars went under world-record time in the women’s 400 freestyle relay to win the event. However, the record will not stand because the relay members were from different countries.

Click here for full results and times.

United States swimmers (from left) Missy Franklin, Dagny Knutson, Katie Hoff and Allison Schmitt celebrate after taking gold in the women's 4x200 free relay on Thursday at the FINA World Championships. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

Franklin, 16, not only gave the United States a commanding lead, she also posted a time that would have won the gold medal in the women’s 200 freestyle final earlier in the week. Her leadoff leg of 1 minute, 55.08 seconds surpassed Italian star Federica Pellegrini’s gold-medal time by 0.50 seconds.

“I looked around at [Alison Schmitt] and said, ‘Did she really go 1:55?’” Hoff said. “That really got me going.”

It got the U.S. team going, too. Americans Dagny Knutson, Hoff and Schmitt held on for the gold medal, winning in 7:46.14 over Australia (7:47.42) and China (7:47.66). The victory avenged the team’s loss to China at this meet two years ago while completing Franklin’s medal collection — gold, silver and bronze — in her first world championship meet.

Franklin also earned silver in Sunday night’s 4×100 final, a race in which only the anchor of the gold-medal winning Dutch team swam faster than she. In the 50 back, a non-Olympic event, Franklin finished by behind Russia’s Anastasia Zueva (27.79) and Japan’s Aya Terakawa (27.93) in 28.01.

Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps’s longtime coach, found himself looking on with amazement.

“Missy is awesome,” Bowman said. “I think we’ll remember tonight as when it all started. It reminds me of somebody I know.”

Franklin, who at 14 traveled with the U.S. team to world cup meets around the globe, hasn’t created quite the splash Phelps did at 16 — he set his first world record at age 15 — but she’s awed nonetheless. She has achieved the qualifying times for every individual event at next year’s Olympic trials; her coach, Todd Schmitz said she hadn’t decided on which ones to direct her focus.

“On the first day of [this] meet, she looked at me and said, ‘I belong here,’” Schmitz said. “I looked at her and said, ‘Yeah, you do.’ . . . I learned when Missy was 12 that I don’t set the bar, she does.”

Franklin did not compete in the individual 200 because she did not qualify in the event at last year’s Pan Pacific Championships, the qualifying meet. She is also entered in the 200 back, whose final takes place Saturday.

“This is my first world championships,” Franklin said, “and I’m just having the time of my life.”

shipleya@washpost.com

Michael Phelps looks on during the Men's 4 x 100 Free Relay final on Sunday at the 14th FINA World Championships. The U.S. men finished a disappointing third, breaking a streak of six straight gold medals in major events. (Photo: Clive Rose/GettyImages)

Third place. And it wasn’t a contest.

What a way to kick off the swimming world championships, the final major tune-up for the 2012 London Summer Games. Ending a streak of six straight gold medals in major events, the U.S. men put forward a performance that left them, their coaches and teammates shell-shocked. And mad. And worse.

“Truly,” said Weber-Gale, “I feel sick about it.”

Moments after the U.S. women lost the lead – and earned the silver – on the final leg of their relay, the once-dominant U.S. men never led and finished in 3 minutes, 11.96 seconds at the Oriental Sports Center, behind the Australians (3:11.00) and French (3:11.14).

“It stinks,” Phelps said flatly moments after the race.

He then added later, “As Americans, we want to win everything we do. We want to be the best. . . We all know we can be better than that.”

The race featured a good start by Phelps, two substandard legs from Weber-Gale and Lezak, and a strong but not superb finish by Adrian. It also featured Ryan Lochte, a star of the ’09 world championship relay, relegated to only the preliminary round Sunday morning; his time then was not fast enough to get him onto the night’s squad.

But it looked like the United States could have used him. Weber-Gale misjudged his speed at the start, going out too slowly, and Lezak, a swimmer who relies on heavy rotation in his stroke , got pushed around like a buoy by the waves generated by the teams in front. Weber-Gale’s split (48.33) registered as the 18th fastest of the night; Lezak’s was tied for 17th.

Nearly 90 minutes after the race, Weber-Gale stood in front of reporters, shaking the bouquet he had received on the medal stand.

“It’s pretty embarrassing for me to go slow like that,” Weber-Gale said. “It’s very disappointing for me. Such a slow leg, I feel like it’s my fault we did poorly. I swam nowhere near my ability.”

U.S. men’s head coach Eddie Reese confessed he couldn’t quite believe what he saw on the results sheet. Australian James Magnussen beat Phelps on the opening leg, 47.49 to 48.08. Three men bested Weber-Gale on the second leg and five topped Lezak on the fourth. Two anchors, France’s Fabien Gilot and Italy’s Filippo Magnini, beat Adrian’s concluding 47.40.

“Those other countries did an amazing job,” said Lezak, famous for his gold-medal-saving anchor at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. “It takes 100-percent of a team doing best splits to win nowadays . . . Unfortunately, I was one of the average guys out there.”

As they assembled on the medal stand, the Americans watched the Australians celebrate. They muttered something else entirely.

“We just talked about not liking where we were standing,” Phelps said.

The U.S. women were considerably happier with their silver, despite losing it on the final leg as Dutch anchor Femke Heemskerk dropped the fastest time of the night (52.46) to overtake Dana Vollmer (53.27). The women trailed Netherlands (3:33.96), finishing in 3:34.47 as Germany took third in 3:36.05.

The women got a great start from Natalie Coughlin (54.09) and a jaw-dropping second leg from teen sensation Missy Franklin (52.99). Jessica Hardy faded at the end of her swim but held the lead with a 54.12. Vollmer, who had competed earlier in the 100 butterfly semifinals, could not fend off Heemskerk despite posting a personal best.

“Obviously, you never like diving in ahead and coming in second,” Vollmer said. “Personally, it lights a little bit of a fire for me.”

By night’s end, the U.S. team was just about burning up.

“We never like it,” Reese said. “We think we’re a country that, no matter how good we are in individual events, we always swim the relays . . .We had splits not at all like we thought they would be.”

Notes: Towson’s Katie Hoff emerged disappointed after the final of the 400, where she finished seventh in 4:08.22, more than six seconds behind winner Federica Pellegrini of Italy, who claimed first in 4:01.97. Hoff, a five-time world champion who narrowly made it into the final with the eighth-best qualifying time, said she had hoped to go 4:05 or better.

“It just wasn’t there,” she said. “That little extra-special something that you need to win a race, it wasn’t there. . . It’s obviously good to make a final, other than that. . . ask me tomorrow.”

Brennan Morris, right, has thrived since moving into an exclusive training group with Michael Phelps. (Jonathan Newton, The Washington Post)

News From Worlds

Things could hardly have gone worse last summer for swimmer Brennan Morris. Two stress fractures in his back laid him up for three months. He failed to qualify for a single final at the Olympic trials.

Two years after Morris’s family had moved from rural Pennsylvania to Baltimore to permit him to train at the esteemed North Baltimore Aquatic Club, Morris, 18, seemed to be going nowhere.

But last fall he sat down with Bob Bowman, NBAC’s new chief executive and Michael Phelps’s longtime coach. Knowing Morris’s promise, and seeing his frustration, Bowman invited Morris, then entering his senior year of high school, to move into Bowman’s exclusive professional group.

So as Phelps, 24, returned to the pool after his eight-gold-medal performance at the Beijing Summer Games, Morris became his youngest training partner. At first daunted, Morris soon thrived. Less than a year after the switch, Morris enters the swimming world championships that begin in Rome Sunday as the youngest male member of the U.S. team. He will compete in the 1,500-meter freestyle on Aug. 1.

“It’s been great,” Morris said by phone from Indianapolis a day after securing his world-team slot by finishing second in the 1,500 free at the U.S. swimming championships. “There’s a lot of motivation to come to the pool with great swimmers around and a great coach. I was really motivated to get to the top level.”

Bowman’s training group also included Katie Hoff, 20, who won three medals at the 2008 Summer Games. She, however, didn’t intimidate Morris in the least. They had, after all, just taken a six-week vacation together to Costa Rica, where they went white-water rafting and zip-lining. Morris would have escorted Hoff to her senior prom, except she didn’t have one; like Morris, Hoff was home-schooled.

Morris and Hoff had gotten to know each other while swimming together under former NBAC coach Paul Yetter. They have now been dating for more than a year, and Morris’s satisfaction over his own success at the July 7-11 U.S. championships in Indianapolis was tempered by Hoff’s disappointing week there.

Her failure to qualify for the world championship team was, perhaps, more stunning than Morris’s slipping onto the squad on the last night of competition.

Morris said he hoped to hang out with Hoff in Rome — after the championships.

“She’s had a tough year, and she’s done a great job handling it,” Morris said. “I’m always there for her whenever she has a problem, just like she was there for me when she was doing great and I wasn’t. I’ll always be a shoulder to lean on if she needs one.”

Phelps, who is something of a big brother to everyone at NBAC, also provides Morris and Hoff a comforting shoulder — at least when he’s not using his elbow to prod and tease both of them.

During a recent training session, Phelps chuckled at Morris’s determination to match the number of push-ups Phelps had done during a drill. Morris, who is not only is six years younger but also considerably slighter than Phelps, struggled mightily to equal Phelps’s — and even Hoff’s — output. Grinning mischievously, Phelps needled Morris about push-ups that wouldn’t have met the Marine standard for proper execution.

But Morris merely labored on, and he and Phelps chatted and laughed as they clung to kickboards during their pool session, wiling away the laps with conversation. Phelps has been an occasional poker partner, Morris said, and an all-around good guy.

“We all have different goals in the group,” Morris said. “Michael has his goals, Katie has her goals ….. I have my goals ….. [Michael] is very easy to get along with. Everyone’s friends in the group.”

Kathleen Morris said her son felt honored to swim with Phelps and under Bowman, but never overwhelmed by it.

“There was no adjustment at all,” she said. “He was just thrilled to be there working with Bob. Everything was a total positive. It was a huge honor.”

Bowman’s group originally included swimming veterans Nick Thoman and Hayley McGregory, but both have returned to prior training homes; it now features Kailey Morris, 21, who is Morris’s sister and swims for Penn State, and former Indiana University swimmer Todd Patrick. After the world championships, Bowman has said, he intends to promote young stars Elizabeth Pelton, 15, and Felicia Lee, 17.

“It’s a very small group,” Kathleen Morris said. But Brennan Morris “was used to a small group. It was almost like going home. He was used to swimming just with his sister.”

Indeed, after the Morris family moved from Albany, N.Y., and settled near Lewisburg, Pa., in 2001, Brennan and Kailey Morris began training by themselves under coach Jon Larson at Big Cat Aquatics in State College, Pa. By 2005, Brennan Morris was the top 14-year-old boy in the nation in eight events.

But the commute to practice — more than an hour in each direction — took its toll on the family.

“They got used to it, and nobody complained, but you try to find a better situation after a while,” Kathleen Morris said.

In August of 2006, as Kailey Morris began college at Penn State, Kathleen Morris moved her other children — Brennan and his sister, Camryne, now 14 — to Baltimore. William Morris, the family patriarch, had gone to college at Johns Hopkins University. The whole family loved the Baltimore Orioles, and the Morrises knew well the reputation of the NBAC program, where both Phelps and Hoff had developed.

William Morris remained behind, however, continuing to work as a nuclear engineer at the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant in Berwick, Pa. He visits his family when work permits, and the entire group made the trip to Indianapolis for the U.S. championships.

No one had any idea Brennan Morris would win a trip to Rome there.

No one, that is, except Bowman.

“Bob made us all bring passports, just in case,” Morris said. “I guess it was a good idea.”

The retirements of Larsen Jensen, Klete Keller and Erik Vendt made the 1,500 free one of the most wide-open events at the U.S. championships, but Morris, who finished ninth in the 400 medley, wasn’t overly optimistic.

But when he dropped 20 seconds off of his best time in the preliminary round, Morris realized he was in the mix for a world-championship berth. He earned a fourth seed in the final. He figured the weight training, the emphasis on the freestyle stroke Bowman had demanded, had paid off.

“It was a pretty young field,” Morris said. “I was trying to place as high as I could with the top two in the back of my mind.”

Bowman advised Morris to stay within sight of the top guys and try to make it a race over the last 200 meters. In an oddly close competition for such a long event, Morris found himself in third with 200 remaining, but just 0.85 seconds behind Josef Kinderwater.

With Bowman’s instructions in mind, Morris blasted by Kinderwater over the next 50 meters and hung on to second place.

“I thoroughly enjoyed working with him,” Bowman said. “He did everything I asked him to do — and he did it well.”