After a battle that came down to the last stroke and had the crowd on its feet, Jenny Thompson beat out Stanford teammate Dara Torres to take the 100 fly in 57.79. Torres was second in 57.86; both were slower than the 57.58 American record Torres had set in prelims. Torres's record broke Thompson's American record of 57.88 from last year, then in the semifinals Thompson qualified just ahead of Torres, continuing their longstanding rivalry.

"It was a pretty sweet victory," said Thompson, 27. "People might think this is easy for me, but I've been under a lot of pressure. Now I want to do the one thing I haven't done yet, which is get an individual gold medal."

Torres, 33, qualified for her fourth Olympics with her second-place finish, becoming the first American swimmer to do so. Torres had won golds in the 400 free relays in 1992 and 1984, and a bronze and silver on relays in 1988.

Torres, Thompson and third-place finisher Ashley Tappin were all teammates on the 1992 Olympic relay.

Tappin was third in 58.98, and Richelle Fox was fourth in 59.62. Karen Campbell was fifth in 59.72, Mary Descenza sixth in 1:00.48, Misty Hyman seventh in 1:00.60 and Melissa Greene eighth in 1:00.84. The entire heat wore the highly touted new body suits, and all but one were the long-legged model. The semifinal times going into the finals made it the fastest field ever in this event.

Event 4: Men's 100 Breast Final

Ed Moses set a new American record and narrowly missed the world record with a 1:00.44. Moses took the lead from the start in a 28.24 and remained untouchable, solidly breaking Jeremy Linn's 1996 American mark of 1:00.77. The world record, 1:00.36, is held by Roman Sloudnov of Russia. Moses, 20, and swimming for Curl-Burke, had said before the event that he felt capable of breaking 1:00, both here and in Sydney.

"It was first things first: I just wanted to make the team," said Moses, whose family held up signs saying, "The 11th Commandment: Moses Shall Swim Fast" during his swim. "And the work's not done yet. I want to continue to work hard and hopefully I can bring home the gold."

When asked what he thought contributed to his fast rise from Junior Nationals to an American record within two years, he said, "When I do something like this, I want to put everything into it."

Pat Calhoun of Auburn was second in 1:01.09, improving again on his surprise morning time of 1:01.47. Brendan Hansen of Suburban was third in 1:01.74. Anthony Robinson was fourth in 1:02.02, Jarrod Marrs fifth in 1:02.12, David Denniston sixth in 1:02.32, Mark Gangloff seventh in 1:02.89 and Kyle Salyards eighth in 1:03.03.

Event 5: Women's 100 Back Semifinals

Haley Cope beat out favorites BJ Bedford, Beth Botsford and Lea Maurer to qualify first for the finals of the 100 back.

Cope went out in 29.90 to finish in 1:02.02, winning the first semifinal heat. Qualifying second was Bedford in 1:02.23, then Courtney Shealy in 1:02.49. Amanda Adkins was fourth in 1:02.65, followed by Maurer, the 1992 bronze medalist in this event, in 1:02.71. Fourteen-year-old Diana MacManus was sixth in 1:02.95. Botsford, the defending Olympic champion in this event, was seventh in 1:02.99, competing with a sprained ankle. Denali Knapp qualified eighth in 1:03.34.

Event 6: Men's 200 Free Semifinals

After two exciting semifinal heats that each ended with four men battling it out to the very end, Josh Davis ended up the top qualifier with a 1:48.45. Scott Goldblatt ended up second in 1:48.60, and Jamie Rauch was third in 1:48.64; all three were in the second semifinal heat. Chad Carvin, second in the 400 free last night, won the first semifinal heat to qualify fourth in 1:48.83.

Ugur Taner was fifth in 1:48.96, Nate Dusing sixth in 1:48.99, 400 free champion Klete Keller was seventh in 1:49.31 and Adam Messner was eighth in 1:49.93 -- meaning all eight qualifiers are under 1:50 and within a second and a half of each other.

Event 7: Women's 100 Breaststroke Semifinals

Megan Quann, who broke her own American record in prelims, qualified first for the finals with a 1:07.66, slightly off her 1:07.12 morning swim. Kristy Kowal qualified second with a 1:07.79. Stacianna Stitts, who had the fastest first 50 of the field at 31.40, qualified fourth in 1:08.02. Amy Balcerzak qualified fifth in 1:08.29, Amanda Beard was sixth in 1:09.01, Kristen Woodring qualified seventh in 1:09.78 and Erin Sieper was eighth in 1:09.81, making for an entire final under 1:10.

Event 8: Men's 100 Back Semifinals

Lenny Krayzelburg came within .06 of his own world record with a 53.60, wearing only a small (non-body) suit and no cap covering his relatively long hair, to qualify first for the 100 back finals. At the 50, he was ahead of his world record split with a 25.93. The world record of 53.60 was set last August; his time today was a new U.S. Open and Olympic Trials record. And he said he thinks he can go faster in finals.

Neil Walker finished second in 54.70, after being dead even with Krayzelburg at the 50, also under world record pace. Randall Bal qualified third in 55.19, and Tate Blahnik qualified fourth in 55.45. Tommy Hannan qualified fifth in 55.68, Marc Lindsay sixth in 55.82, Brad Bridgewater seventh in 55.88 and Matt Ulrickson eighth 55.96.

Event 9: Women's 400 Free Finals

Diana Munz unseated favorite Brooke Bennett to win the 400 free by a hair, coming from behind on the last 50 to win 4:08.71 to 4:08.78. At the 200 Munz lagged slightly (2:03.64 to Bennett's 2:03.12), and at 300 she was still a half a second behind. Munz's time is the third-fastest in the world so far. Bennett, 20 and representing Blue Wave, won the gold medal in the 800 free at the 1996 Olympics.

"In the beginning I was really nervous," said Munz, 18 and representing Lake Erie Silver Dolphins. "I had no idea what was going to happen tonight. I just went out knowing I'd trained as hard as I could this summer and I'd do what I could."

Munz and Bennett dominated the race the entire way. 400 IM champion Kaitlin Sandeno ended up third in 4:12.40, and Julia Stowers was fourth in 4:12.71. Julie Varozza was fifth in 4:14.28, and Kalyn Keller, sister of men's 400 free champion Klete Keller, was sixth in 4:14.50.

Lindsay Benko, who set the American record in this event at Short Course Worlds, hung in for half the race, but fell back to seventh (4:14.67). Magda Dyszkiewicz was eighth in 4:18.06.

Event 10: Men's 400 IM Finals

The 400 IM was a teeth-clenching three-man battle from start to finish, with top-qualifier Tom Wilkens fading to third on the free leg and young star Erik Vendt surging at the end for a tight finish with defending Olympic champion Tom Dolan. The three were ahead of world record pace through the 300, with Dolan's winning 4:13.72 slightly off his 4:12.30 record from 1994. Dolan's win was a redemption after struggling with his health and injuries, while Vendt's swim was an inspiring surprise. Vendt, 19 and representing the Squids, was slightly behind after the back and inched up on the breast to touch half a second ahead of Dolan and half a second behind Wilkens at the 300 mark. Then the order reversed on the free, with Dolan moving into first, Vendt taking second in 4:13.89 and Wilkens, 24, dropping back to take third in 4:15.69.

Dolan, who has long suffered from severe asthma, had been sick for two weeks before the trials. He underwent knee surgery last spring.

"I like to do it the hard way," said Dolan, 24 and representing Curl-Burke. "This was a long time coming. That's the most emotion I've had in a swim in a long time. It's been a long year and a half. I'm going to look forward to just getting back in and working hard for five weeks and going to Sydney healthy."

Kevin Clements of Industry Hills was fourth in 4:20.26, and Robert Margalis was fifth in 4:21.05. Beau Wiebel was sixth in 4:24.09, and Eric Donnelly was seventh in 4:26.84. Greg Reeves, who had dropped eight seconds to qualify for finals from an early heat, was eighth in 4:32.00.

Kari Lyderson, a contributing editor to Swimming World, writes for The Washington Post.