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A disappointed Ryan Lochte failed to qualify in the 400m individual medley. USATSI

The swimming world was stunned on Sunday night when Ryan Lochte failed to qualify for the Olympics in arguably his best event -- the 400m individual medley.

The 11-time Olympic medalist got out to a big lead at the trials, but couldn't hold up during the breaststroke and freestyle portions of the race, finishing third behind Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland.

According to NBC Sports, Lochte revealed after the race that he had suffered a groin injury during preliminaries, which affected his performance and strategy.

"I had to go out faster than usual because I couldn't use my legs in the breaststroke," he said. "I did everything I could in that race, it just wasn't enough. Just got to forget about that and move forward."

Lochte won gold in the 400 IM at the 2012 Olympics, his only individual medal in London.

The 31-year-old is entered in five more events at this week's trials, but it remains to be seen whether his injury will cause him to withdraw from any of them.

Lochte's next scheduled event is the 200m freestyle on Tuesday, which 22-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps recently pulled out of to concentrate on other races.

The swimming trials continue all week, with the Rio Olympics running from Aug. 5-21.