American Michael Phelps posts record swim

No stranger to world records, American Michael Phelps set the mark in the 200-metre individual medley on Friday at the U.S. Olympic swim trials.

Phelps beat Ryan Lochte on Friday in Omaha, Neb., clocking a time of one minute, 54.80 seconds.

It was his fourth individual victory of the trials and bested the mark of 1:54.98 he set while winning seven events at last year's world championships.

Lochte had a pair of runner-up finishes on a gruelling night, losing to Aaron Peirsol by two-100ths of a second in the 200 backstroke and returning about 28 minutes later to take on Phelps in the IM, which requires all four strokes.

It was the second world record of the meet for Phelps, who also swam faster than anyone in history to win the 400 IM. His only piece of unfinished business: the 100 butterfly and an expected showdown with world record holder Ian Crocker.

Phelps must finish first or second in that event to ensure he swims eight events at the Olympics. Then he'll need to win them all to beat Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Spitz was at the Qwest Center to watch Phelps make another run at the Holy Grail of Olympic records and believes he has a good chance to do it.

"It's time for someone else to take the baton of responsibility," Spitz said. "Thirty-six years is a long time."