Lochte adds more gold

Ryan Lochte piled up more gold at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships Thursday, winning the 400m individual medley in dominant style and anchoring the victorious US 4x100m freestyle relay.
Lochte opened his medley with a blistering butterfly leg that put him under world record pace, and seized the gold with a time of 4min 07.59sec.
That was the fastest in the world this year -- improving on the 4:08.77 he set in the heats when he and Tyler Clary nabbed the top two qualifying spots to squeeze world record-holder Michael Phelps out of the final.
Phelps' preliminary time was fourth-quickest, but only two swimmers from each country can compete in each final, so Phelps made do with relay duty on Thursday evening.
Phelps put the United States in front leading off the relay and they never relinquished the advantage.
Phelps, Peter Vanderkaay, Ricky Berens and Lochte won in 7:03:84 -- 7.17 seconds ahead of runners-up Japan with Australia third.
Clary was second in 4:09.55 and Thiago Pereira of Brazil was third in 4:12.09.
Kosuke Kitajima and Junya Koga claimed gold for Japan, Kitajima comfortably winning the 100m breaststroke and Koga parlaying a stellar start into a victory in the 50m backstroke.
Japan's quadruple Olympic gold medallist Kosuke Kitajima won the 100m breaststroke in 59.35sec.
He couldn't better his heats time of 59.04, but was more than satisfied to get the win ahead of Australia's Christian Sprenger and American Mark Gangloff.
"I'm happy that I won," he said. "I didn't win the Japan title at nationals, so I'm really happy."
World record-holder Brenton Rickard of Australia was fifth. After his strong morning swim, Kitajima said, his American coach Dave Salo suggested he should make a run at Rickard's world mark of 58.58.
But Kitajima, coming back this season from a sabbatical year, said it wasn't on the cards.
"I don't have the power to swim in the 58s right now," he said.
American Nathan Adrian turned it on late to win the 100m freestyle with world record-holder Cesar Cielo relegated to third.
Adrian clocked 48.15 to edge Canadian Brent Hayden, who took silver in 48.19.
Cielo, swimming in lane eight after a lacklustre preliminary swim, led at the 50m mark but was powerless to hold off the surging North Americans and finished third in 48.48.
"Off the turn I did see Cesar," said Adrian. "I caught a glimpse of Brent on the other side of me, but I had no idea it was that close."
Cielo was only 11th-fastest in the heats, and got into the final because of the rules limiting the number of finalists per country.
"I wasn't thinking about medals," Cielo said. "To be honest, I didn't feel I deserved to be in the final."
The Brazilian, who won Olympic gold in the 50m free in Beijing and in the 50m and 100m free at last year's world championships, said he had struggled with the back half of the 100m free all season.
"The last 20 meters have been hurting a lot," said the Brazilian, who won the 50m butterfly on Wednesday and still has the 50m free to swim.
World champion Rebecca Soni of the United States led from start to finish to win the 100m breaststroke in 1:04.93, equalling her own third-fastest time ever in the event.
Australia's two-time Olympic medallist Leisel Jones was second in 1:05.66 and Australian Sarah Katsoulis was third.
Natalie Coughlin won her third straight Pan Pacific title in the women's 100m freestyle, the US veteran powering home in 53.67sec.
Australian Emily Seebohm and American Dana Vollmer tied for second in 53.96.
American Elizabeth Beisel won the women's 400m medley in 4:34.69, ahead of Australian Samantha Hamill.
Sophie Edington's 50m backstroke victory gave Australia their only gold of the night, which had already been marred for the Aussies by Stephanie Rice's announcement that she will have surgery on her ailing right shoulder and miss the Commonwealth Games.