BEIJING — The first swimming final of these Olympic Games, the 400-meter individual medley, didn't turn out to be the Michael Phelps-Ryan Lochte duel most anticipated.

Phelps v. Spitz, however, is very much on.

Phelps, the American swimmer with hopes of breaking Mark Spitz's Olympic record of seven gold medals in one Games, distanced himself from the field in the final 200 meters of Sunday's 400 IM final at the National Aquatics Center. And by the time he touched the wall, America's aqua man had obliterated his previous world record to win his first gold of the Games.

Phelps' time of 4 minutes, 3.84 seconds was a full 2.32 seconds faster than silver medalist Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, and 1.41 seconds faster than the world record he set at the U.S. trials on June 29. Ryan Locthe won his second individual medal, finishing third in 4:08.09.

"I wanted to go 4:03. I didn't know if I would," Phelps said after the race. "To be honest, I didn't really feel that great, and then going into the ready room I started getting chills up my body. Right then and there I was starting to get more and more excited. I mean, I was pretty emotional after that race, and I'm pretty excited to have that first one under my belt."

Through for the first 200 meters of the race, it looked as if Phelps would have serious competition for the initial gold of 2008. Cseh never left Phelps' side, and Locthe had actually sped past both of them at the 150-meter mark during his favorite leg, the backstroke.

By the time the second half of the race began, though, Phelps was back in the lead with his strongest stroke, the breaststroke, coming up.

That's when Phelps began to pull away, and when the freestyle leg of the race began, it was just a matter of how much Phelps would drop off his world-record time.

"I wasn't comfortable after the first 200 after seeing everybody so close together," Phelps said. "That's usually not how it as after the first 200. I think it made my breaststroke a lot stronger. And at that point it was all adrenaline."

Lochte, considered a contender for the gold after pushing Phelps in the trials, faded down the final 200 meters, never even giving Cseh much competition for second place. The former Florida Gator said he took the race out too quickly and paid for it at the end.

"I knew I had to go out fast in order to be in the race," said Lochte, who will likely face Phelps again in the 200 IM final. "If I was like a couple tenths slower on the back stroke I think I would've had a better shot. I think that backstroke kind of took a lot out of me. I did my best and I can't ask for anything else."

Both Americans acknowledged seeing President Bush in the stands, and Phelps said he had a distant exchange with the President.

"I saw him after the race and he nodded and waved the American flag," Phelps said. "It's a pretty special feeling. I waved and nodded my head back."

The entire experience made for an emotional medal ceremony for Phelps, whose eyes looked to be filling with tears just before he burst into laughter. The latter came because the speakers in the Water Cube ended the U.S. national anthem prematurely, drawing smiles from both Americans on the medal stand.

Later in Sunday's finals, which were run in the morning here to accommodate NBC's prime-time American audience, American Larsen Jensen earned a bronze in the 400-meter freestyle, finishing behind gold medalist Taehwan Park of Korea and silver medalist Lin Zhang of China.

First-time Austrialian Olympian Stephanie Rice made her final debut memorable, setting a world record in winning the 400 IM final, with Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventary finishing second and American Katie Hoff, who qualified in five individual events, taking the bronze.