US swim star Michael Phelps, pictured in competition last month, won two racesu00a0 in a tuneup event for next week’s Duel in the Pool in England.

US swim star Michael Phelps, the 14-time Olympic champion, won two races in a tuneup event for next week’s Duel in the Pool in England.

Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, captured the 400-yard individual medley and 100-yard backstroke Saturday in the North Baltimore Aquatic Club’s meet at the US Naval Academy.

Phelps improved to 4-for-4 on the weekend as he prepares to join a US team that will compete against an all-star squad from England, Germany and Italy in the nation that will host the 2012 London Olympics.

Bob Bowman, coach for the US swim superstar, said Phelps will train for three weeks in Colorado before competing at a short-course meet in California in January and a long-course meet in Missouri in February.

Swimmer Ryan Lochte poses for photos on the red carpet during the 2009 USA Swimming Foundation Golden Goggles Awards on November 22, 2009 at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. Lochte beat out superstar Michael Phelps and veteran Aaron Peirsol for male swimmer of the year at the awards on Sunday.

Ryan Lochte beat out superstar Michael Phelps and veteran Aaron Peirsol for male swimmer of the year Sunday at USA Swimming’s Golden Goggles awards.

Rebecca Soni nabbed female swimmer of the year honors, while Phelps, who earned a leading six nominations, was honored for delivering the men’s race of the year and for a world championship relay performance.

Lochte ended Phelps’ two-year reign as male swimmer of the year, thanks to world record-setting triumphs in the 200m individual medley and 4×200m freestyle relay at the world championships in Rome.

He earned five medals, including four golds in Rome.

Swimmer Rebecca Soni nabbed the female swimmer of the year honors Sunday at USA Swimming’s Golden Goggles awards.

“I just want to say thank you to my parents. They’ve been 100 percent with me my entire swimming career,” Lochte said. “Aaron Peirsol and Michael Phelps, you guys have pushed me to limits I didn’t even know, and I wouldn’t be here without you.”

Lochte also shared the relay performance of the year award, for the 4×100m free relay in Rome in which he, Phelps, Matt Grevers and Nathan Adrian defeated Russia as favorites France flopped.

Phelps was honored for his scintillating 100m butterfly triumph in Rome. He smashed the 50-second barrier with a time of 49.82sec and handed Milorad Cavic a bigger defeat than the one the Serbian suffered by a fingertip at the Beijing Olympics.

Soni set a world record and won gold in the 100m breaststroke in Rome.

The award-winners were decided by fans in online voting.

Japan’s two-time double Olympic breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima has returned to competition after a break of 15 months on the road to the 2012 London Games. The 27-year-old swimmer swept all before him in time trials at the weekend in Fullerton, California, a one-hour drive from his training base in Los Angeles.

Japan’s two-time double Olympic breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima has returned to competition after a break of 15 months on the road to the 2012 London Games.

The 27-year-old swimmer swept all before him in time trials at the weekend in Fullerton, California, a one-hour drive from his training base in Los Angeles.

“I got exhausted but I felt fulfilled at this meeting,” Kitajima said on his website after his first competition since his 100-metre and 200-metre triumphs at last year’s Beijing Olympics.

“I believe this feeling of exhaustion has given me new inspiration,” he said. “I may have a long road ahead of me and I think I will take my time in moving forward.”

He clocked mediocre times — 54.18sec over 100 yards on Saturday and 1min 55.42sec over 200 yards on Sunday — at the meeting with local juniors and university students. It was the first time Kitajima competed in a 25-yard pool.

“It wasn’t much of a competition. But it was good for me to take part because I could check my condition as part of training,” he said.

Kitajima is also due to compete at time trials this weekend in Tokyo. Norway’s Alexander Dale Oen, who finished second behind him in the 100m in Beijing, will also take part.

After retaining his Olympic titles, he moved to Los Angeles last April and resumed training at the University of Southern California. He skipped the world championships in Rome in July and August where both his 100m and 200m world records were shattered.

Australian Brenton Rickard won the 100m in 58.58, breaking the previous world record of 58.91 set by Kitajima at the Beijing Olympics.

Another Australian, Christian Sprenger, clocked 2:07.31 in the 200m semi-finals, shaving by 0.2 seconds Kitajima’s mark set in Tokyo in June 2008.

US swimmer Michael Phelps swims during a training session at Eriksdalsbadet arena in Stockholm. Phelps failed to make it past the 100 metres freestyle heats when he returned to action in the Stockholm leg of the short-course World Cup

Swimming legend Michael Phelps failed to make it past the 100 metres freestyle heats when he returned to action in the Stockholm leg of the short-course World Cup on Tuesday.

The American, competing for the first time since the Rome World Championships in July, clocked 47.77 seconds, the 16th fastest time and 1.84secs slower than the best time set by Sweden’s Stefan Nystrand (45.93 secs).

Also failing to make it into the final were French speedster Frederic Bousquet (47.53secs), Australia’s Eamon Sullivan (47.38secs) and Filipo Magnini of Italy (47.74secs).

Phelps, who won an unprecedented eight gold medals at last year’s Beijing Olympics, did have the excuse that he chose to anticipate the FINA ban on high-tech bodysuits due to come into force on January 1.

Until then swimmers can choose either to stick with the bodysuits which sparked an avalanche of world records in Rome or switch back to more conventional attire.

The Stockholm meeting was also the first time that Phelps has taken part in a short-course event since 2006 and the first time in Europe since 2001, also in Stockholm.

He is entered for five races in Sweden and will go on to compete in Berlin at the weekend.