Michael Phelps will resume rivalry with Ryan Lochte in 400-meter individual medley at Irvine meet

Ah, the good old days…

Turning our lonely eyes to Aussie icons Thorpey and Klimey and remembering how American Gary Hall Jr. once set off a firestorm when he spoke about smashing the Australians like guitars.

You might say with Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim and Hall now retired that the vaunted Aussie-U.S. swim rivalry has landed in the remainder bin.

Not exactly. How about relocated?

It all has, in a sense, gone more global, a fact expected to be fully on display with competitors from 21 countries on hand at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine. The meet, which serves as one of the qualifiers for next year’s World Championships, runs Wednesday through Sunday.

Still, the foundation for Team USA intrigue was put down Monday when Michael Phelps said he was planning to swim in the 400-meter individual medley, an event he had seemingly shelved for good after winning it in Beijing at the 2008 Olympics.

This pleased not only Phelps’ mother Debbie and coach Bob Bowman, but his teammate Ryan Lochte, who won the 400 IM at the U.S. Nationals in Irvine earlier this month.

“Now he’s back swimming and I don’t have to call him names,” Lochte said, joking.

And what were those names when Phelps was sitting out the 400 IM?

“I can’t really say,” Lochte said.

Bowman knew there was a chance the 400 IM could turn into something bigger when he noticed Phelps paying close attention to the event at the nationals, eyeing Lochte and second-place finisher Tyler Clary.

“He was very interested in that race — that made me feel good,” Bowman said.

Said Phelps: “Figure, why not give it a shot? Like I said before, I’m probably not in the best shape I want to be to swim that race. We’ll see if we can make worlds. And if we can make worlds, I’ll know what to do to put my body in shape for next summer to be able to swim the kind of times and level I want to swim.”

In a sense, Lochte versus Phelps became time-stamped on Aug. 6 when Lochte beat Phelps in the 200-meter individual medley, the first time Phelps had lost to him in a medley event, long course, at a major meet.

But Lochte is still trying to adopt the mentality of the chase, not only in the medley events.

“I feel like, no matter what, even if I do beat him, I always feel like I’m not on top,” Lochte said. “No matter what. I’m always putting myself down. I’m always saying … everyone is still faster than me. It helps me because I feel like I’m the underdog. I’m the hunter instead of being the hunted.”

They will race in the 400 IM on Thursday and the 200 IM on Saturday.

Bowman spoke about the training for the 400 IM as being the base for Phelps’ training program, saying: “It’s the decathlon of swimming and it kind of defines him as a complete swimmer.”

Not even two weeks have passed since the nationals ended, but Phelps is already seeing improvement. In Irvine, he won the 200 freestyle, the 100 butterfly, the 200 butterfly and finished fourth in the 200 backstroke, in addition to the second place in the 200 IM.

At the Pan Pacs, Phelps will not have any individual doubles, competing in one individual event per day, the 200 butterfly, the 400 IM, the 100 butterfly and the 200 IM.

“The one thing I’ve been trying to do is just prepare myself as much as I can to get in better shape for this meet,” Phelps said. “I feel better in the water now than I did before nationals.

“…I feel I can actually swim my strokes again. I was having some trouble with freestyle and wasn’t feeling that great.”

And he was even tougher on himself after winning the 200 butterfly and called it probably “the worst 200 fly” of his life.

Nevertheless, nationals were merely the first course of the summer meets.

Said Bowman: “Even though Michael probably wasn’t in the best shape for nationals, it’s very hard for me to just flat-out taper him for that and not leave something in the tank for the next meet.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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