Ryan Lochte competes during the men's 400 IM on Sunday at the FINA World Championships, which he won for his fifth gold medal. (Photo: REUTERS/David Gray)

With a final-day haul of four golds, one silver and one bronze, the U.S. team secured the overall and gold-medal counts. A little revelry would have been understandable, especially from Lochte, who concluded these championships as the undisputed star with another runaway gold-medal performance.

Yet Lochte sounded almost despondent as he assessed his week’s work after crushing the competition in the 400-meter individual medley, a race he won by more than four seconds.

“For the most part, I’m not really happy,” said Lochte, who touched the wall in 4 minutes, 7.13 seconds — 3.29 seconds over Phelps’s world record. “I mean, getting five gold medals is definitely great, but the times I’ve went, I know I can go a lot faster. A lot of places in my races I messed up on…. I have a full year to make sure I have those perfect swims.”

Lochte’s performance here looked much better to just about everyone else. He beat Phelps, who won four golds, two silvers and a bronze, in two head-to-head races and won by huge margins in every other event in which he competed. His dominance ignited huge hopes for 2012 Olympics in London, but there were other promising sidebars. The team’s medal total of 29 and 16 golds surpassed its performance at the last world championships in Rome in 2009, when it captured 22 and 10.

“It was great beginning [Saturday] night and it just got greater tonight,” U.S. women’s team coach Jack Bauerle said. Tonight “was just sort of the topper…. This is unbelievably encouraging.”

If the men’s team looked well-armed with the multi-tasking Lochte and Phelps, who have both tried to downplay their growing rivalry, the women’s side displayed impressive depth. The night’s biggest stunner, though, came from China’s Sun Yang, 19, who broke the world record in the men’s 1,500, the only mark that did not fall before speedsuits were banned two years ago. Sun finished in 14:34.14, knocking .42 off of Grant Hackett’s 10-year-old record.

For the United States, Jessica Hardy and Elizabeth Beisel won individual golds in the 50 breast and 400 individual medley, respectively. Rebecca Soni claimed a bronze in the 50 breast to add to her three golds. Two years after winning just two golds at the world championships in Rome, the U.S. women got three from newcomer Missy Franklin, 16, and took home eight.

“The performances were terrific across the board,” Bauerle said.

That was not the case among the men, where Lochte and Phelps all but three of the individual U.S. men’s medals. Tyler Clary won two, including the silver in Sunday’s 400 individual medley.

Lochte, who won golds in the 200 and 400 individual medleys, 200 freestyle, 200 backstroke and 4×200 free relay and a bronze in the 4×100 freestyle, insisted that he hadn’t taken over as “top dog,” but others saw it differently

“He hasn’t just been exceptional this year, he’s been exceptional the last five,” said Clary. “Unfortunately, he’s been hugely overshadowed by what Michael was doing. If Michael hadn’t existed, Ryan would be Michael…. I think here he wasn’t going to let anybody beat him at any cost.”

Phelps got his final gold with a flourish, helping Nick Thoman, Mark Gangloff and Nathan Adrian win the 4×100 medley relay. U.S. men’s coach Eddie Reese admitted he pondered putting Lochte on the backstroke leg even though he didn’t swim in the 100 back at this meet, but worried he would be tired after the 400 medley final. The move nearly backfired; Thoman led off in third place.

By the time Phelps entered the water for the butterfly leg, the Americans had fallen to fourth. Phelps, though, climbed to second with a swim of 50.57 seconds, and Adrian produced a time of 47. 64 on the anchor to overtake Japan’s Shogo Hihara while holding off a late-charging James Magnussen of Australia.

“I’ve been able to gather more motivation here than I already had,” Phelps said. “I think that’s something that will help me get into better shape for next year … Ryan is clearly working hard and clearly in the best shape he’s probably ever been, and that’s why he is where he is.”

What remains to be seen is where everyone will be next year.

“We’ve got people coming,” Reese said. “The Olympic trials, I think it’s going to be the best meet any of us have ever seen.”

shipleya@washpost.com

Ryan Lochte swims en route to a gold medal in the men's 200 back on Friday at the FINA World Championships. (Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images)

At the start of this meet, swimming fans wondered whether Lochte could hold his own against Phelps on such a major stage. The question, now, has changed: Can Phelps get his throne back at the London Olympics next summer?

Lochte led from start to finish in the backstroke final, then produced a dramatic comeback victory in a gripping relay with the fastest leg of the night. The two races had this in common: Lochte touched the wall about a body length ahead of the silver medal winners.

As American Rebecca Soni completed a gold-medal double in the breaststroke and Missy Franklin, 16, continued to raise hopes that she will be the next great U.S. female swimmer — she set an American record in the semifinals of the 200 backstroke — Lochte kept the pressure on Phelps, who has won two golds, two silvers and a bronze, for that title on the men’s side.

“If you go by medals alone . . . it’s a definite changing of the guard,” said U.S. teammate Tyler Clary, who won the bronze medal in the 200 backstroke. “Some people might say Michael’s not exactly on his game, but all that matters in a race is who comes prepared that day, and lately it’s been Ryan.”

Lochte won the 200 backstroke in 1 minute, 52.96 seconds, topping Japan’s Ryosuke Irie, who finished in 1:54.11, and Clary, 1:54.69. Shortly after the medal ceremony, and after Phelps advanced in the heats of the 100 fly, Lochte, Phelps, Peter Vanderkaay and Ricky Berens stepped on the pool deck for the final of a relay the United States has won in every major championships since the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.

The Americans prevailed, winning in 7:02.67 over France (7:04.81) and China (7:05.67) but it wasn’t easy. Phelps led at the 150 mark, only to be passed over the last 50 by Germany’s Paul Biedermann and France’s Yannick Agnel.

When Vanderkaay jumped in the water, he trailed Germany by .33 seconds and the French by .28. Phelps looked dismayed. Vanderkaay, however, regained the lead by .46 seconds.

“Obviously, I would have liked to have swum a little faster in the leadoff,” Phelps said. “I’ve said this every night so far: Hopefully, with more training, I can swim faster. . . . These guys have pulled the back end of the relay together really well.”

France’s Jeremy Stravius inched ahead of Berens on the third leg, putting the United States behind by 0.65 as Lochte dived in against Fabien Gilot. The two were just about even after 100 meters before Lochte sped away, giving the United States a victory margin of 2.14 seconds. The Chinese finished 5.65 seconds back.

“There’s two guys you want to have at the end of a relay, Michael and Ryan,” Berens said. “When Ryan is hot like he is now, you don’t want anyone else at the end of a relay.”

The last man celebrating Lochte’s achievements this week has been Lochte; he hasn’t so much as offered a satisfied smile or waggled a finger at the end of his gold-medal races. Both he and Phelps have two more events to swim. Both will compete in the 4×100 medley relay; Phelps has the 100 butterfly final and Lochte, the 400 individual medley. Lochte seems determined not to break his concentration as he seeks to leave here with six golds.

“I have a lot of confidence, especially after what happened last year” at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, when he won six gold medals, Lochte said. “I still have one more [individual] race left to finish off this meet, then, after that, get ready for 2012.”

Clary said anyone who discounts Phelps next year would look like a fool, but noted that things had suddenly gotten very interesting entering the 2012 Summer Games.

“People like controversy,” Clary said. “People like to see the greatest Olympic champion of all time possibly get beat.”

They also enjoy seeing new champions emerge. Franklin, who has earned a gold, silver and bronze already, made herself the gold-medal favorite in Saturday’s 200 backstroke final by posting the fastest time in the semifinals. Her finish in 2:05.90 went under Margaret Hoeltzer’s American best of 2:06.09 from 2008.

“She is awesome,” U.S. teammate Elizabeth Beisel said. “She didn’t even know it was an American record. . . . She was like, ‘What? No way!’ She definitely one day is going to be the face of the women’s team.”

Time — most likely about a year — will tell who will be the face of the men’s team.

“Times speak for themself,” Clary said. “The fact that just about every one of [Lochte’s] races he’s pretty much done it hands down, that’s all the speaking that needs to be done.”

shipleya@washpost.com

Ryan Lochte, left, leads Michael Phelps on the way to winning the men's 200 IM final on Thursday at the FINA World Championships. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Lochte showed no annoyance, but found the perfect way Thursday night to short-circuit the skepticism about his place in the sport, the doubts about whether he could conquer a super-fit Phelps.

Lochte didn’t merely defeat Phelps for the second time this week in the 200-meter individual medley in front of a stunned crowd at the Oriental Sports Center, he also set a world record – the first since polyurethane speedsuits were banned two years ago.

“I just wanted to do something that everyone thought was not possible,” Lochte said. “All the hard work I’ve done this year has definitely paid off.”

Lochte took the lead after the first butterfly leg and held on as Phelps closed in the waning meters, touching the wall in 1 minute 54.00 seconds – 0.10 faster than the world mark he had set at the 2009 world championships in Rome.

Phelps finished in 1:54.16, a personal best that went under the 1:54.23 he swam at the 2008 Summer Games. The silver medal left Phelps temporarily at loss for words – he uncharacteristically declined to speak with reporters immediately after the race, delaying his comments until the formal press conference that always follows the medal ceremony. He later apologized, admitting he needed time to collect his thoughts.

“I thought I had it on the last stroke,” Phelps said. “I felt myself gaining and gaining and gaining. It is what it is. I fell short. I think that race will provide a lot of motivation for the next year…. There is lots of frustration going through my head.”

The pair swam side-by-side in lanes 4 and 5 and quickly left the field behind. Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, the silver medalist at the ‘09 world championships and ‘08 Olympics, came home in 1:57.69 – 3.69 seconds behind Lochte.

“I think you watched the two best IM swimmers ever swim tonight,” said Lochte’s coach, Gregg Troy. “I think you got a real treat… I don’t know if we’re going to call a few hundredths of a second passing Michael Phelps, but it puts us in a good lead.”

Phelps, who has earned one gold medal, two silvers and one bronze here, has one remaining individual event, the 100 butterfly. But his week will be remembered for his failure to win in two head-to-head races with Lochte, who has emerged as a major challenger to Phelps’s international dominance.

Phelps, however, continued to look inward rather than across the lane lines.

“He’s really just done all the little, small things right,” Phelps said. “He’s super-focused right now. You can see that. He’s putting races together that are helping him to win. To be honest, I think he’s more prepared. I think that’s what it’s coming down to….

“To be able to go faster than he went in 2009 is, I think, incredible. [But] I didn’t win because I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been.”

Lochte, who later posted the fastest time in the 200 backstroke semifinals (1:55.65), shrugged off Phelps’s assessment of the race.

“That’s his call,” Lochte said. “I can’t really comment that much about it. You’re either ready or you’re not. If he says he wasn’t ready, I guess he wasn’t ready.”

Lochte, who won four medals at the 2008 Summer Games and six golds at last year’s Pan Pacific Championships, was ready. U.S. teammate Tyler Clary claimed after the race that he had predicted the very time Lochte laid down. He said he had been kidding with Lochte and told him: “Why don’t you stop being a big baby and go 1:54.00 like you should?”

Added Clary: “He looked at me like I was crazy…. He’s having an incredible year.”

On Tuesday, Lochte chased Phelps down in the 200 freestyle after Phelps took the lead at the halfway point. On Thursday, Phelps swam the last 50 in 27.36 – .13 faster than Lochte – but finished with a long stroke that might have cost him.

“I thought the last stroke was the stroke I needed to take,” he said. “I probably could have rushed [another] stroke in there. Maybe I would have gotten to the wall faster.”

shipleya@washpost.com

Nathan Adrian celebrates his win in men's 100 meter freestyle at the U.S. swimming championships. Adrian, 20, also won the 50 free Thursday. (Tom Strickland, Associated Press)

Locals Results

U.S. swimming championships archives

INDIANAPOLIS, July 10 — Nathan Adrian claimed his second sprint title of the week at the U.S. swimming championships Friday night, winning the men’s 100-meter freestyle final in 48.00 seconds.

Adrian’s time did not approach the American record in the event (47.51) held by Michael Phelps, who withdrew from the field Friday morning because of neck soreness.

Despite his early departure, Phelps ended the meet with victories in the 100 and 200 butterfly and 200 freestyle, with the possibility of competing in those events and all three relays at the world championships later this month in Rome.

Phelps’s premature exit opened the door for Adrian, who outraced David Walters of Yorktown, Va. Walters claimed second place in 48.17, and Garrett Weber-Gale claimed third in 48.19.

Adrian, 20, who also won the 50 free Thursday, emerged this week after finishing fourth in the 100 free at the U.S. Olympic trials last year. A pre-med student at the University of California, Adrian trained prior to last year’s Trials in Islamorada, Fla., with Olympic great Gary Hall Jr.

“I wouldn’t say I saw [this] coming, but it was what I wanted to do,” Adrian said. “It’s very exciting. This is the year after the Olympics. This is when a lot of people start stepping up and start establishing themselves as swimmers on an international level, and that was kind of my focus.”

Another Win for Lochte: Olympic star Ryan Lochte, 24, won the men’s 200 individual medley in 1 minute 54.56 seconds, adding to the U.S. title he had won in the 400 medley earlier in the week. Cancer-survivor Eric Shanteau, 25, earned his second world-team spot with his second-place finish in 1:56.00. Tyler Clary, 20, claimed third in 1:57.25.

Lochte was under world-record pace through 150 meters, but he fell short of Phelps’s record of 1:54.23.

“I just wanted to take it out smooth, but fast, and just hold on for dear life,” Lochte said.

In the women’s 200 fly, Kathleen Hersey, 19, got first in 2:06.44, topping Mary Descenza, 24, who finished second in 2:07.13.

Local Swimmers Shine: North Baltimore Aquatic Club’s Felicia Lee finished second in the B final of the women’s 200 fly in 2:10.56. Her teammate Kailey Morris claimed fifth in 2:12.68 and the University of Virginia’s Elizabeth Shaw tied for seventh in 2:13.24. NBAC’s Camryne Morris finished seventh in the C final of the event. In the B final of the men’s 200 individual medley, NBAC’s T.P. Patrick finished first in 2:01.80 and Austin Surhoff finished seventh in 2:02.87. In the C final, Bethesda’s Adam Meyer, who swims for SwimMAC Carolina, finished first in 2:01.03. In the C final of the 200 back, Curl-Burke swimmer Meredith Monroe finished third in 2:15.03.

Michael Phelps earned world championship berths by winning his first two events, the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter freestyle. (Michael Conroy, Associated Press)

Locals Results

INDIANAPOLIS, July 8 — Michael Phelps muttered angrily as he got out of the water Wednesday night at the U.S. swimming championships. He spewed extremely unprintable things.

This was surprising.

He had just won his second of two finals, securing berths in the 200-meter freestyle and 200 butterfly at the world championships in Rome later this month.

He had officially overcome a tumultuous offseason that included six months of no training, a three-month ban for bad behavior and serious consideration of retirement. He had gone 2 for 2 on his first night back of serious, this-really-matters swimming, winning the 200 free in 1 minute 44.23 seconds and the 200 fly in 1:52.76.

Yet Phelps fumed and talked to himself.

“I’m not happy,” Phelps said later to reporters when asked about his obvious dismay. “That’s one of the things that’s really going to motivate me, these races today. ….. Some things happened today that are going to be helpful for me to swim faster.”

Phelps, 24, declined to elaborate on those “things.” He, perhaps coincidentally, also declined to elaborate on his feelings about the latest high-tech speedsuits that have caused so much controversy in the sport recently — and which happened to be worn by the two men who finished second to him Wednesday, and many others in both races.

In the 200 fly, Phelps beat Tyler Clary, 20, who sported one of the most popular and controversial new suits, a Jaked01. With his finish in 1:53.64, which makes him the fourth-fastest man ever in the event, he dropped nearly four seconds from the personal best he set in June and more than eight seconds from the personal best he set in May.

In the 200 free, David Walters, 21, also sported a Jaked01 and finished second in 1:44.95, 1.62 seconds faster than his previous best. Walters not only hung with Phelps, he topped Phelps’s pal Ryan Lochte, who finished third in 1:45.66, thereby keeping Lochte off of the world championship team in that event.

Walters, who won an Olympic gold swimming a preliminary leg of the 400 free relay last year, said he chose the “Ferrari red” Jaked01 suit because “objects that are red look faster than they actually are.”

“Everybody in that heat I look up to,” he said. “I’ll take the win, but I know any other day those guys would win.”

Clary, this year’s national champion in the 400-yard individual medley from the University of Michigan, prevented Michigan’s Dan Madwed, who came home in 1:56.13, from making the world team in the 200 fly. Madwed used to train at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, Phelps’s home club.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic with how that turned out,” Clary said.

Phelps, clearly, was not.

“After six months off, really being back in the water five months, I can’t be disappointed” with his times, Phelps said. “There are other things frustrating me. I’m just going to keep them inside.”

FINA, swimming’s world governing body, considered banning the Jaked01 and 136 other suits last month, but decided against it because of legal concerns, allowing 400 suits by more than two dozen manufacturers to be used this summer. Phelps has declined to discuss the issue this week, but his coach, Bob Bowman, has railed against the ruling and the newest suits.

Phelps’s two victories overshadowed five-time Olympic gold medal winner Aaron Peirsol’s world-record swim in the 100 backstroke. Peirsol regained the world record he lost just a week ago when Spain’s Aschwin Wildeboer Faber took Peirsol’s former record while wearing a Jaked01.

Wednesday, Peirsol also sported one of the hot — and controversial — new suits, the Arena X-Glide. But he only wore the pants, not the full-body version, drawing cheers from the crowd here. He touched the wall in 51.94 seconds, topping Faber’s 52.38.

“When the world record was broken, it was a total surprise,” Peirsol, 25, said. “But my goal going into this meet was to break that anyway. That was a little extra motivation. The guy got to hold the record for a week, so he can be happy with that.”

Before Faber broke it, Peirsol had held the 100 world record since 2004.

“He was making a statement,” said Matt Grevers, 24, who finished second in 53.11. “The other guy’s trying to take his record and the first opportunity he got, he took it back. That says a lot about his dominance.”

Grevers beat out Nick Thoman, 23, who also trains at NBAC under Bowman. Thoman missed a world championship team berth by .01 of a second.

Phelps, who will also compete in the 100 fly and 100 free later this week, added that he also would have liked to have reached personal bests; his time in the 200 free was well short of his world record of 1:42.96, and the time in the 200 fly missed his world record in that event by .73 of a second.

“When I’m satisfied is when I’m doing a best time,” Phelps said. “That’s what makes me happy. I’m happy with where I am, all things considered, but deep down inside I’m happy doing a best time.”