Phelps locks up another 8-race program in London

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) ? Michael Phelps' Olympic program is set. He'll be going for another eight gold medals in London.

And get ready to see a lot of Missy Franklin. She'll be busy, too.

Phelps wrapped up another stellar week at the U.S. trials Sunday night, rallying to win the 100-meter butterfly and secure his spot in five individual races at the Olympics.

Phelps was slow off the blocks and made the turn in sixth place. But he caught Tyler McGill on the return lap and surged to the wall to win 51.14 seconds, well off his world-record pace (49.82) but fastest in the world this year.

McGill hung on for the second Olympic spot in 51.32. Ryan Lochte, swimming an event he normally doesn't in major competitions, just missed adding another race to his already busy program. He was third, 33-hundreths behind McGill.

Phelps, who won an Olympic-record eight golds at the 2008 Beijing Games, is set to swim the same events in London: the 100 and 200 fly, the 200 and 400 individual medley and the 200 freestyle, as well as all three relays.

In an ominous sign for his rivals, Phelps isn't happy with just winning. He's still looking for the perfect race.

"That was a pretty crappy first 50 and a pretty terrible finish," Phelps said. "I should have taken another stroke. It felt OK. It didn't feel great, didn't feel terrible.

"It's done, we're done."

Well, not quite.

The races that really matter are still to come in London.

"It shows that I can do the kind of event program like this at a high level again," Phelps said. "We were struggling over the last couple years at doing one event at this level. (It's good) being able to get a couple under the belt this week and hopefully build off of this. It will be good to get home and start heading toward London."

Phelps legacy is already secure, no matter what he does in London.

Franklin's star is still on the rise.

The high school senior-to-be locked up her fourth individual event with a dominating win in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:06.12 seconds, fastest in the world this year and nearly 1 1/2 seconds ahead of runner-up Elizabeth Beisel, who secured the second spot in London at 2:07.58.

The 17-year-old Franklin had already earned spots in the 100 and 200 freestyle and 100 back. She's also expected to swim on all three relays.

"I can't believe I have seven events," she said. "It's so overwhelming but so exciting. The whole week went really, really well."

The 200 back is Franklin's best event. She's the defending world champion and heads to London as the overwhelming favorite in that race.

"She's the best in the world for a reason. She can beat all of us pretty handily," Beisel said.

Some teenagers have wilted in the Olympic spotlight.

Beisel expects Franklin to thrive.

"She handles the media so well," the runner-up said. "I can see a lot of pressure on her, but she handles it like she's 25 and she's been doing this for years. Props to her for being so amazing at that."

Lochte, who already has three races against Phelps in London and a fourth individual event in the 200 backstroke, surprised everyone by sticking with the 100 fly at the end of a grueling week.

He nearly pulled it off, too. If not for McGill's blistering start, Lochte probably would have gotten the second spot.

But he never had any intention of swimming the 100 fly at the Olympics because it would have left him with three events in one day.

"I still probably wouldn't have swum it just because I don't want to do that triple again in London," Lochte said. "I have no regrets. This meet was a training meet."

He plans on being even stronger at the games.

"I wanted to go at the end of this meet knowing that there is so much left," Lochte said. "I haven't fully rested yet. Come London, I'll have that full taper and be fully rested and hopefully I'll be a lot faster."

He enjoyed getting another chance to race Phelps, even if he didn't have much chance of beating him.

"It was fun," Lochte said. "It was something I've never done before at a big swim meet. I just went out there and had fun."

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Follow Paul Newberry on twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/phelps-locks-another-8-race-program-london-003227591--oly.html

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