Hoff double upstages Phelps

Katie Hoff continued to upstage Michael Phelps at the US Olympic swimming trials on Wednesday, powering her way to two thrilling wins and adding three events to her Beijing programme.

Hoff, who Phelps playfully calls his little sister, produced a big effort on an action packed night claiming titles in the 200 metre freestyle and 200m medley in a span of 50 minutes.

The victory in the 200m freestyle also clinched a spot on the 4x200m freestyle relay squad.

Hoff has already set herself a busy schedule for Beijing qualifying in four individual events (200m and 400m IM, 200m and 400m freestyle) and a relay - so far.

Phelps added a fourth event to his Olympic programme by winning the 200m butterfly and staking his claim to another after posting a blistering time in the 100m freestyle preliminaries.

The six-time Olympic gold medallist clocked 47.92 seconds to win his heat then withdrew from the event feeling he had done enough to secure a spot on the 4x100m free relay team.

"We don't want to jeopardise our best events," said Phelps. "I've been able to learn over the past few years to conserve, save up a little bit just because my event programme is so long."

Phelps, who has targeted Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at a single Games, attacked his own world record of 1:52.09 in the 200m butterfly, before clocking 1:52.20 - the event's second fastest time.

For the first time in four days, the trials failed to produce a world record but there was no shortage of drama with Hoff battling to her two wins.

In the 200m freestyle, Hoff grimly fought off a challenge from Allison Schmitt, touching in an American record time of 1:55.88 for a wafer-thin 0.04 second victory.

The 200 IM, was no less thrilling with Hoff battling Natalie Coughlin and Ariana Kukors down the stretch before touching in 2:09.71.