Taking shortcut to swim action

Suspense, anyone?

It’s going, going ... gone whenever Michael Phelps -- or Katie Hoff for that matter -- hits the water these days, unless they are experimenting with an off-off event.

For those in search of intrigue at the USA Swimming National Championships, which start today at the Natatorium in Indianapolis, this advice is in order: Look short and shorter.

The two shortest men’s freestyle races, the splash-and-dash 50 meters and the always-glamorous 100, are probably the most up for grabs the next few days.

Two old-guard Olympic members, Jason Lezak and Gary Hall Jr., a gold medalist in the 50 in the last two Olympics, will not take part. Lezak has been swimming in European meets this summer, and Hall represented the U.S. at the Pan American Games in Brazil.

In the 50, there’s Benjamin Wildman-Tobriner, recent Stanford graduate and newly crowned world champion; Cullen Jones, silver medalist at the world championships and gold medalist last summer at the Pan Pacific Championships, and the resurgent Nick Brunelli, who was third at the 2004 Olympic trials behind Hall and Lezak.

The talent is not limited to Americans -- some international competitors are allowed in the meet and South African sprinters Roland Schoeman and Ryk Neethling are in the 50 and 100. Also in the 100 are Americans Neil Walker and Ian Crocker.

Brunelli, 25, has recovered from career-threatening shoulder surgery in September and won against a field that included Wildman-Tobriner, Schoeman and Neethling this month in the Janet Evans Invitational at USC.

“It’s unbelievable the last three years,” Brunelli said. “Everybody seems like they want a piece of the 50 and the 100. It brings the sport to a new level.

“If you are worried about anybody, you’re at a disadvantage. What’s Lezak-Phelps going to do? Crocker, he can show up out of nowhere. You have to think about what I can do.... And now Phelps is coming down to the 100,” though not at Indianapolis.

Still, this doesn’t mean Phelps will be backing off his typically hectic meet schedule. He is down to swim a jaw-dropping seven individual races and possibly as many as three relays.

His program will be a mix of standard events and “off” ones. The 200 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and the 400 freestyle, more or less, land in the latter category; the 200 backstroke, 100 butterfly, 200 individual medley and 200 freestyle fall under the business-as-usual heading.

But, for Phelps, the true heavy lifting already unfolded in the spring, when he had the meet of a generation at the world championships, winning seven gold medals and setting five world records.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com