Ryan Lochte Wins Gold In Men's 400m Individual Medley, Michael Phelps Finishes Fourth

Ryan Lochte has won gold in the 400-meter individual medley while Michael Phelps goes away from the event empty handed, having finished fourth. Lochte touched the wall with a time of 4:05:18, challenging for the world record. This is the first gold medal for the United States. Thiago Pereira captured silver for Brazil while won Kosuke Hagino took bronze for Japan.

Swimming only seven events, Phelps was never going to match his epic medal haul from 2008 in Beijing but he has looked far from sharp thus far. After his fourth-place finish, he told reporters it was "just a crappy race," via Nicole Auerbach of USA TodaySports.

The 400 IM Final marked the first encounter between the friendly rivals, Phelps and Lochte during the 2012 London Games. The duels in the pool between Phelps and Lochte were among the most anticipated matchups ahead of the games. However, this showdown between the swimming stars almost never happened after Phelps barely qualified earlier Saturday morning. The defending gold medalist placed eighth in the preliminaries, and swam in the eighth lane in this race. He was in medal contention during the race but fell off the pace as Lochte powered toward the finish.

If both make it through their preliminary heats in other events, they could race against each other again in 200m Individual Medley finals on Thursday.

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LONDON — Ryan Lochte turned his much-anticipated duel with Michael Phelps into a blowout, pulling away to win the Olympic 400-meter individual medley by more than 3 seconds Saturday night. Even more stunning: Phelps didn't even win a medal.

After barely qualifying for the evening final in a performance that hinted at trouble ahead, Phelps struggled to a fourth-place finish and was denied his 17th career medal. When it was done, he could barely pull himself out of the pool.

Brazil's Thiago Pereira took the silver, and Japan's Kosuke Hagino claimed the bronze – beating Phelps by a barely comfortable 34-hundredths of a second for a spot on the podium.