Swimming Stars Cruise at Trials

OMAHA, July 3 -- The stars of American swimming got their work in at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials today, with Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Katie Hoff, Aaron Peirsol and Dara Torres advancing to evening semifinal or final heats of their events quite easily.

Hoff, the 19-year-old from Towson, Md., who has won all four events she has entered here, swam in the 100-meter freestyle, as did Coughlin and the 41-year-old Torres. Coughlin posted the fasted time in preliminary heats, 53.64 seconds, and Torres was third in 54.57.

Hoff, however, tied for eighth, well back at 54.95 seconds. Her strength is not sprints such as the 100 freestyle, but rather middle-distance races. Her wins have come in the 400 individual medley, the 400 freestyle, the 200 freestyle and the 200 individual medley. She is racing in the 100 freestyle largely to post a fast time so that she might be included on the 4x100 relay at the Beijing Games.

"Obviously, I'm not going to make the team individually or anything like that," said Hoff, who would have to place in the top two to qualify to swim it in Beijing. "I'll be happy to just go out there tonight and have fun. This is the kind of event where I can kind of sit back and relax and have fun with it."

Torres, though, is here fighting for history, and the 100 freestyle is one place she could make it. Should she place first or second in Friday's final, she would qualify for her fifth Olympics, something no other American swimmer has done.

Even though her first trials came in 1984, when she was 17, Torres said she had a difficult time controlling her nerves prior to her race. She last appeared at trials in 2000.

"I felt like I was at my first Olympic trials again," Torres said. "I didn't think I was going to be that nervous. But I was extremely nervous."

Torres's best event is the 50 freestyle, which will have preliminary heats Saturday and the final on Sunday.

Peirsol, the 2004 gold medalist in the 200 backstroke, swam easily in winning his heat in the event. His time of 1:57.05 was the fastest of the morning, but he'll almost certainly have to face Ryan Lochte -- who broke Peirsol's seven-year winning streak in the event at world championships in 2007 -- in Friday's final. Lochte posted the fourth-fastest time in prelims this morning.

Phelps, the 23-year-old from Baltimore County, is down to the final portion of his aggressive schedule. He trailed only Lochte in the prelims of the 200 individual medley, and will swim in the semifinals tonight. Lochte pushed Phelps to a world record on Sunday in the 400-meter version of the event.

Phelps's final individual race is the 100 butterfly, in which he will almost certainly face rival Ian Crocker of Maine. The prelims and semifinals of that event will both be Friday, when Phelps will also swim the final of the 200 IM.

"At this point, it's just like adrenaline," Phelps said. "It doesn't matter how tired you are. I only have two more events, and they're fun events."

Tonight's session will begin with the men's 200 breaststroke, in which Brendan Hansen could set a world record. Other finals tonight include the women's 200 butterfly and the men's 100 freestyle, in which 32-year-old Jason Lezak could threaten the world record. He set an American mark of 47.58 seconds Wednesday in the semifinals, only .08 of a second off the world record, held by France's Alain Bernard.