A day after demolishing his own world record in the 400 medley, Phelps was back in the pool and cruising to easy wins in his preliminary and semifinal heats.

Ryan Lochte, who chased Phelps to his 400 individual medley record, set up another showdown with the six-times Olympic gold medallist in the 200m final after clocking the year's best time of 1:45.61 to win his semifinal.

"I'm happy with it," said Phelps, who is targeting Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at a single Summer Olympics. "I'm getting a good feel for my stroke."

World record holder Brendan Hansen set the stage for an Olympic showdown with archrival Kosuke Kitajima of Japan by touching first in the 100m breaststroke in 59.93.

"I didn't break my world record but having that Olympic berth solidified feels very good," Hansen said. "I think for everyone of us this is the toughest part of the summer, trying to make the Olympic team."

In the 100m butterfly final, Christine Magnuson came home first in 58.11 ahead of Elaine Breeden and both women qualified for their first Olympics.

(Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies)