Hansen, Vollmer redeemed

OMAHA — Brendan Hansen was done with swimming after two doses of Olympic heartache.

He’s feeling a lot better now.

Next stop: London.

Hansen, who retired from the sport after the 2008 Beijing Games but couldn’t stay away, made his comeback worthwhile by winning the 100-meter breaststroke in 59.68 seconds at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials on Tuesday night.

“It was a really pressured day for me,” Hansen said. “I didn’t want there to be any doubt.” Eric Shanteau is heading back to the Olympics, too, and this time he doesn’t have to worry about battling cancer. He rallied to finish second to the 30-year-old Hansen, pumping his fist when he saw his position, slapping hands with the winner, then running across the deck to kiss his wife.

Four years ago, Shanteau beat out Hansen for an individual spot on the team shortly after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. He put off treatment until after the Games and has been healthy ever since.

Hansen wasn’t the only swimmer to use the second night of the trials as redemption for Olympic disappointment.

Dana Vollmer, a gold medalist as a teenager in 2004, missed out on the team four years ago while battling injuries and health problems. It’s all good now. She got off to a blistering start to easily win the 100 butterfly in 56.50.

“I’m so relieved,” Vollmer said. “It was such an exciting race. I’m really overwhelmed right now.”

And, oh yeah, there was another memorable race between Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps, but there’s a bigger showdown to come. One night after Lochte beat Phelps in the 400 individual medley, Lochte edged him again in the semifinals of the 200 freestyle.

But that’s just a tuneup for tonight’s final.

“Oh, that was the semifinals. It doesn’t really matter,” Lochte said. “It doesn’t matter until the finals.

We’regreat racers, we just want to win. We definitely kicked it in gear the last 50, me and him.

We know tomorrow night is going to be a lot faster.”

Lochte also had a strong morning swim in the 100 backstroke during the preliminaries, posting the second-fastest time behind Matt Grevers. But the laid-back Floridian doesn’t want anything to take away from his next race with Phelps, so he dropped out before the semifinals.

“That actually felt pretty good,” Lochte said. “I know I have a lot left, so we’ll see what happens.”

He said it was his choice to scratch the 100 backstroke.

“I just want to get ready,” Lochte said. “I don’t want to have to worry about swimming” an extra race.

Hansen rallied over the final lap, giving him a chance to make up for the disappointment of the past two Olympics. He was one of the world’s top breaststrokers leading up to both Athens, Greece and Beijing, but has yet to win an individual gold.

Shanteau was fourth at the turn, but he turned on the speed heading for the wall and got second in 1:00.15.

Vollmer was more than a half-second under the worldrecord pace at the turn, but she faded on the return lap. Not to worry. She had built such a commanding lead that she was a full body length ahead when she touched.