Phelps ended a golden day at the pool by winning his preliminary heat in 1 minute, 58.65 seconds, good enough to move on to Thursday morning's semifinals.

"I'm just trying to get through everything," he said. "It's a lot of racing and it's not easy."

Swimming one heat earlier, Lochte finished in 1:58.15. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, already a two-time silver medalist behind Phelps in the 400 IM and 200 butterfly, was third overall in 1:58.79.

Earlier in the day, Phelps claimed two more gold medals, making him 5-for-5 at these games, with world records in each victory. Overall, his 11 career gold medals make him the winningest Olympian in history.

Lochte pulled double-duty Wednesday night, preparing for his two biggest individual races in Beijing.

He and Aaron Peirsol set up a rematch in the 200 backstroke, with the Americans qualifying 1-2 for the event in which they share the world record.

Lochte's time of 1 minute, 56.29 seconds was just 0.06 seconds ahead of Peirsol, who clocked 1:56.35 in the prior preliminary heat.

Markus Rogan of Austria, the silver medalist behind Peirsol four years ago in Athens, was third-quickest in 1:56.64.

Defending champion Amanda Beard failed to get out of the 200 breaststroke prelims. The former Playboy cover girl's time of 2:27.70 was a whopping 2.57 seconds off her personal best and left her 18th.

Lochte ended Peirsol's seven-year winning streak in the 200 back at last year's world championships in Australia, where he also took away Peirsol's world record. Rogan was third.

The American duo resumed their rivalry at the U.S. trials in July, when Peirsol avenged his loss Down Under. The two were stroke for stroke the entire race, but Peirsol lunged to the wall just ahead of Lochte, tying the mark set by Lochte in Australia.

Their shared world mark of 1:54.32 could be in jeopardy in Friday morning's final. Peirsol, the 100 back champion in Beijing, will try to complete a sweep of the backstroke events for the second consecutive Olympics.

To read this complete Fred Harteis Sports News visit our news partner at;