Former world record-holder Brendan Hansen was denied a 200m breaststroke berth on the US team for the Beijing Games on Thursday by training partners Scott Spann and Eric Shanteau.
Hansen, already qualified in the 100m breaststroke, finished fourth in the event at the US Olympic swimming trials.
The shock defeat means the American won't get a 200m showdown with Japanese rival Kosuke Kitajima, who shattered Hansen's word record with a swim of 2min 07.51 in Tokyo on June 8.
"I'm still in shock," Hansen said shortly after the race, in which Spann and Shanteau ran him down on the final lap to claim the first and second places needed to qualify for Beijing.
Spann, 20, clocked 2:09.97, a career best and his first swim under 2:10.
Shanteau, 24, finished in 2:10.36, a shade outside his personal best of 2:10.24.
Scott Usher was third in 2:11.00 with Hansen fading to fourth in 2:11.37.
"I just got tired toward the end," said Hansen, who led at the final turn. "They sat on my hip the whole way ... they both just ran me down in the last 15."
Spann, who made his first Olympic team, said he had planned a late move.
"I wanted to stay right with Brendan and attack the last 50 meters," he said.
"The last 15 meters I got so tired. All I could think in my head was this has been coming for four years, and this is the last stroke.
"I'm in shock," he said. "I can't even process that I made the team."
Hansen's coach Eddie Reese, also the US men's head coach, said he had no idea why Hansen faded so uncharacteristically.
"We don't have a clue," he said. "The US trials produce a level of emotion and nobody is safe."
The upset sent a collective shiver down the spines of other swimmers.
"I have been really shocked by what happened tonight," said veteran Amanda Beard, the 2004 women's 200m breaststroke gold medallist. "I thought for sure Brendan would win tonight."
Natalie Coughlin, who clinched her first spot with a world record win in the 100m backstroke on Tuesday, said it showed just how cut-throat the US trials, where only the top two finishers from fields jam-packed punch their Olympic tickets, can be.
"That's just the cruel nature of this week," Coughlin said.
Hansen said he would do all he could to make sure his Longhorn Aquatics club mates were ready for Beijing - and apparently for Kitajima.
(AFP via China Daily July 5, 2008)