Former world record holder Brendan Hansen suffered a major blow at the US Olympic swimming trials on Thursday when he failed to qualify in the 200 meters breaststroke. Hansen gave everything but faded in the final meters and was beaten into fourth place, with the two Beijing berths going to Olympic newcomers Scott Spann and Erik Shanteu. Michael Phelps reached the final of the 200 meters individual medley in his penultimate event of the trials, while 41-year-old mother Dara Torres, the 1984 Olympic champion, took another step toward securing a spot at her fifth Games when she qualified for the 100m freestyle final. Garrett Weber-Gale blitzed to his first Olympics after winning the 100m freestyle and was joined by Elaine Breeden, who won the women's 200m butterfly. The evening session opened with a shock when Hansen's training partner Spann stormed home first in a time of 2:10.38, followed by Shanteau in 2:10.36, with both men clinching their first Olympic berths. After winning the 100 meters breaststroke on Monday, Hansen had looked forward to reclaiming his world record in the 200m from Kosuke Kitajima to set up an Olympic showdown with his Japanese rival, who stole his record less than a month ago. Hansen looked in command when he was leading going into the final turn but faded badly in the closing meters, touching home fourth with 2:11.37. “I don't know what went wrong, I came to the pool tonight and I didn't have a very good feeling,” a stunned Hansen told reporters. “These guys just brought it tonight, Scott's a stud. “I did my best, I gave everything in the pool tonight, I left it all out there. It wasn't there. It just wasn't my day tonight and I guess it was theirs. “I'm going to show these guys what they need to do beat him (Kitajima) because if I can't do it, I'm going to make sure that they do.” In the night's two other finals, Weber-Gale blitzed to his first Olympics after getting to the wall first in the 100 freestyle in a rapid 47.92, and Elaine Breeden, runner-up in the 100 meters butterfly, qualified for her second event after winning the 200 butterfly in 2:06.75. Phelps, targeting Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at a single Games in Beijing, moved a step closer to adding the 200 individual medley to his program after cruising to an easy win in his 200m semis. Phelps will meet close friend and rival Ryan Lochte in the final. He chased Phelps to a world record in the 400m individual medley on Sunday and threw down the gauntlet in his semifinal, posting the fastest time of 1:57.57. Lochte will also feature in a 100 meters backstroke showdown that will see the world record holder take on Olympic champion, Aaron Peirsol. – Reuters __
