Aug 02, 2012 at 8:36am

It's time for Round 2 of Michael Phelps vs. Ryan Lochte.

Their first showdown of the London Olympics went to Lochte in a runaway on the opening night of the swimming competition. This one figures to be a lot closer.

The American stars compete against each other for the last time in the 200-meter individual medley on Thursday night. Lochte qualified fastest in 1 minute, 56.13 seconds. Phelps was 98-hundredths of a second back in third.

"We love racing against each other," said Phelps, who plans to retire after the games. "Neither one of us likes to lose. I like to say we bring out the best in one another."

In between them again is Laszlo Cseh of Hungary. He's been the perennial also-ran in the last two Olympics, taking bronze behind Phelps at the 2004 Athens Games and silver four years ago in Beijing when Phelps won and Lochte was third.

Phelps could accomplish one more bit of history on Day 6 at the pool. A victory would make him the first male swimmer to win an individual event in three consecutive Olympics. Japanese star Kosuke Kitajima failed to defend either of his titles in the 100 or 200 breaststrokes, leaving Phelps a chance to accomplish the feat.

He missed on his first two tries at a threepeat, finishing fourth in the 400 IM (Lochte won) and second in the 200 butterfly.

Lochte has a busy schedule on what could be a big night for the U.S. He'll try to defend his title in the 200 backstroke final, with teammate Tyler Clary pressuring him as the fastest qualifier. Then a short time later, Lochte returns for the 200 IM final.


Source: AP