Ryan Lochte Beats Michael Phelps in 400-Meter Medley Ryan Lochte doing the breaststroke during the men's 400 I.M. finals at the Olympic trials. Lochte won in 4 minutes 7.06 seconds. OMAHA - If Ryan Lochte was going to dethrone Superman, he had to become a Strongman. And so it was, heading into his showdown with Michael Phelps at this week's United States Olympic trials, Lochte worked on his butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, but also on his pony keg heave, his 400-pound chain drag, his 650-pound tire flip and his heavy bar lift. The time that Lochte put in out of the water to get better has paid golden dividends in it. The 400-meter individual medley on Monday night, which opened the eight-day meet, was a case in point. At the 2008 trials, Lochte was even with Phelps after 300 meters but was outkicked on the freestyle leg. This time it was Lochte who used a strong back half to pull out the victory. He reeled in Phelps, who led after the butterfly leg, and Tyler Clary, who was first after the backstroke, to win going away in 4 minutes 7.06 seconds. Phelps finished second in 4:07.89 to earn the other Olympic berth. Clary was third in 4:09.92. "The first race is always the hardest," Lochte said. I can take a deep breath now and relax and whatever happens, happens. I'm just going to go out and have fun now. Four years ago, the 400 I.M. victory set the tone for Phelps's week and, by extension, his Olympics. He qualified to race in eight events, then went 8 for 8 in Beijing to surpass Mark Spitz as the most decorated Olympian in a single Games. He struggled for the next two years with his motivation before finding his purpose in trying to hold off a fast-charging Lochte, who won five golds at last summer's world championships. Lochte's ascension provided a wake-up call for Phelps, who got another one on Monday when he was napping in his hotel room between finals and the hotel's fire alarm went off. Phelps is the world-record holder in the 400 I.M. but until three months ago it appeared he would not try to defend his Olympic title in London. After posting a slower time in the preliminaries than both Lochte and Clary at the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships, Phelps shelved the event. He didn't swim it on another big stage until resurfacing for Monday's preliminaries. Was it the right decision to swim the event? "Yes," said Phelps's longtime coach, Bob Bowman, "because this is the catalyst for everything else. When this goes, everything else goes well. Phelps and Lochte own five of the six all-time fastest swims in the event. Coming into the meet, Clary's personal best, which he posted three years ago while wearing one of the since-banned buoyant suits, was three seconds slower than Phelps's world record and nearly two seconds off Lochte's personal best, a 4:06.08 that he clocked while pushing Phelps to a world record in the final at the 2008 trials. Clary was asked if he sometimes felt as if he came along at the wrong time. "I feel like I came along at the perfect time," he said, adding: "I mean, the interesting thing about swimming, especially over the past four or five years, is that because of who Ryan is and because of who Michael is and because of what they've accomplished, there has never been this much exposure for swimming. There really hasn't. The proof was in NBC's live, prime-time telecast of the finals this week. For 250 meters, it appeared that Clary might hijack the spotlight from the co-headliners. He took the lead on the backstroke leg and held it until Lochte overtook him on the breaststroke. If Clary had been born in any other country, he would be going to London as a medal contender. As it is, he'll have to try to punch his ticket in his remaining events, the 200 freestyle (featuring Phelps and Lochte), the 200 butterfly (which includes Phelps) and/or the 200 backstroke (in which he'll go up against Lochte). When Spitz was at his best, he had a cast of supporting men pushing him in his events, including Jerry Heidenreich, Don Schollander, Gary Hall Sr., Doug Russell, Ross Wales, Carl Robie, Ken Walsh and Steve Genter. Since 2005, Phelps has had Lochte, who finished 10 seconds behind Phelps in the 400 I.M. in his trials debut in 2004 and has been reeling him in since in the individual medleys, the 100 and 200 freestyles and the backstrokes. Their dual strengths is what makes their duels so compelling. They will probably go head to head this week in three more events: the 100 and 200 freestyles and the 200 individual medley. The way other events fall on the schedule - the 100 butterfly and 200 backstroke quickly come to mind - is the only thing keeping them from waging a decathlon-like battle of attrition. Because for all their versatility, Phelps and Lochte remain only human. Lochte was asked before the meet about his load capacity. How many events can he realistically cram into eight days, knowing he'll have to race three times in most of them to qualify for the team? "In 2008, Michael Phelps set the limit, eight world records, eight gold medals," Lochte said. That's amazing. But he's human. He's not a fish or anything like that. He's just like all of us, and he trained really hard to get there. So I know it's possible. Dana Vollmer's 2008 trials were no fun as she failed to qualify for the team despite being a favorite. On Monday, she put herself in perfect position to right that wrong by lowering her 100-meter butterfly American record by 0.05 second with a time of 56.42 in the semifinals. She will race for an Olympic berth Tuesday. ... Peter Vanderkaay and Conor Dwyer, who train with Ryan Lochte in Gainesville, Fla., finished 1-2 in the 400 freestyle. Another member of the Gainesville group, Elizabeth BeIsel, won the women's 400 I.M. in 4:31.74, just missing Katie Hoff's American record of 4:31.12. Caitlin Leverenz was second.