Skip navigation

Phelps wins second gold medal in 400m relay

United States’ team overtakes France, sets new world record

Exclusive Summer Olympics news & widgets at NBCOlympics.com!
Video: Olympics coverage
What's next for Phelps?
Aug. 28: TODAY’s Meredith Vieira talks to Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps about his plans now that the Olympic Games are over.

BREAKING NEWS
updated 11:34 p.m. ET Aug. 10, 2008

BEIJING - Jason Lezak outtouched Alain Bernard of France at the wall Monday to give the United States a victory in the 400-meter freestyle relay and keep alive Michael Phelps’ bid for eight Olympic gold medals.

Lezak overtook the Frenchman to win in 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds, breaking the world record of 3:12.23 set by the Americans in Sunday’s preliminaries.

France took the silver in 3:08.32. Australia earned the bronze in 3:09.91.

Story continues below ↓
advertisement | your ad here

Phelps’ hopes of breaking Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds in a single games appeared doomed when the French took over the lead at the 250 mark. They were 4.03 seconds under world-record pace at 350 meters before Lezak, the oldest American male swimmer at 32, rallied over the closing strokes.

This story will be updated as it develops.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Sponsored links

Resource guide