OMAHA, Neb. — The first event of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials produced a huge stunner: Ryan Lochte failed to qualify for the team Sunday night in an event he won at the 2012 London Games.

Lochte, an 11-time Olympic medalist, raced out to a big lead on the first two legs of the 400-meter individual medley but had nothing left for the breaststroke and freestyle.

After the race, Lochte revealed that he pulled a groin muscle during the morning preliminaries, saying it left him with no choice other than to try to build a commanding lead in the butterfly and backstroke and hope it would hold up.

It didn’t. Not even close.

Chase Kalisz won in 4 minutes, 9.541 seconds, while Jay Litherland rallied to take the second spot for Rio in 4:11.021.

Lochte, his legs totally gone, labored home in third at 4:12.021.

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“I had to go out faster than usual because I couldn’t use my legs in the breaststroke,” said the 31-year-old Lochte, who still has several other events to claim a spot on his fourth Olympic team – assuming he can overcome his injury. “I did everything I could in that race, it just wasn’t enough. Just got to forget about that and move forward.”

While college teammates Kalisz and Litherland celebrated, Lochte hung on a lane rope, exhausted. He finally made it over to the side of the pool, struggling just to climb out of the water. He said he’ll get a cortisone shot to help deal with the pain.

“I’m going to keep working on it day in and day out, and hopefully it gets better,” Lochte said. “I thought about it this morning, about scratching, but I mean, it’s the Olympic trials. If I had a broken leg, I’d still go out there and swim.”

Two other finals were held at the sold-out CenturyLink Center, which is hosting the Olympic trials for the third straight time in a temporary pool.

Maya DiRado qualified for her first Olympic team in the women’s 400 IM, knocking off 2012 silver medalist Elizabeth Beisel.

DiRado touched in 4:33.73, finishing a couple body lengths ahead of Beisel, who earned a spot on her third Olympic team.

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In the men’s 400 freestyle, Connor Jaeger and Conor Dwyer are heading back to the Olympics for the second time after finishing 1-2.

Michael Phelps is dropping the 200 freestyle at the trials, leaving the 18-time Olympic gold medalist with four events.

Phelps’ first event will be the 200 butterfly on Tuesday. Phelps earned silver in the event four years ago in London.

His other events are the 100 fly, 100 freestyle and 200 individual medley.

GYMNASTICS: Sam Mikulak, Jake Dalton and John Orozco are heading back to the Olympics. So are Alex Naddour and Chris Brooks. And this time, they won’t be watching from the stands.

Naddour and Brooks, alternates in 2012, will join Mikulak, Dalton and Orozco in Rio de Janeiro after earning a spots on the U.S. team Saturday night.

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The Americans are still smarting from an ugly fifth-place finish in London four years ago, imploding in the final after easily topping qualifying. USA Gymnastics officials blamed part of the problem on fatigue and moved trials up two weeks from 2012 to give the team a bit of a breather before final preparations before Rio begin.

ROWING: U.S. Olympic rowers will be given a new, high-tech training suit with anti-microbial features designed to protect them against water pollution in Rio de Janeiro.

Athletics apparel maker Boathouse Sports says the new, seamless one-piece suit is knitted with an anti-microbial finish. It also has water-repellant features to keep the rowers cool and dry.

Testing last year by The Associated Press found that the lagoon where the Olympic rowing and canoeing events will be held next month was heavily contaminated.


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