OMAHA, Neb. – If this week in America’s heartland is any indication, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are going to put on quite a show in London.

The world’s greatest swimmers produced their most stirring duel yet at the U.S. Olympic trials Saturday night, going stroke for stroke in the 200-meter individual medley, never more than a few inches apart.

Their arms whirled in unison on the butterfly, then again when they flipped over for the backstroke. Their heads popped out of water as though this was synchronized swimming when they switched to the breaststroke. And, finally, they both gave it everything they had coming to the wall on the freestyle.