BEIJING — By a fingertip, Michael Phelps is still on course for eight gold medals. He can thank Jason Lezak for getting him No. 2.

The oldest man on the U.S. swimming team pulled off one of the great comebacks in Olympic history today, lunging to the wall just ahead of France's Alain Bernard in a race so fast it actually erased two world records.

Wow!

Few sporting events live up to the hype — this one exceeded it. The 32-year-old Lezak was nearly a body length behind the massive Bernard as they made the final turn, but the American hugged the lane rope, drafting off the Frenchman and stunningly overtaking him on the very last stroke.

Watching on deck, Phelps let out a resounding "Yeaaaaaah!" and thrust both arms toward the roof of the Water Cube. His quest to break Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals had survived what will likely be its toughest test.

The Americans shattered the world record set by their "B" team the previous evening in the preliminaries, touching with a time of 3 minute, 8.24 seconds — nearly 4 full seconds below the 15-hour-old mark of 3:12.23.

"Unbelievable," said Phelps, who swam the leadoff leg and then became the team's biggest cheerleader. "Jason finished that race better than we could even ask for. I was fired up. Going into that last 50, I was like, 'Aw, this is going to be a close race.' Jason's last 10 or 15 meters were incredible."

The Americans won the 400 free relay at seven straight Olympics, but watched the Australians and South Africans take gold at the last two games.

"You could tell I was pretty excited," Phelps said. "I lost my voice and I was definitely pretty emotional out there."

Bernard was the world record holder in the 100, but he surrendered that mark as well. Australia's Eamon Sullivan broke the individual record by swimming the leadoff leg in 47.24 — ahead of Bernard's mark of 47.50.

Lezak swam his 100 in a staggering 46.06, the fastest relay leg in history though it doesn't count as an official record.

"Experience was better than talent," France's Frederick Bousquet said.

Lezak looked at the scoreboard, then leaped out of the water with an emphatic fist pump.

"I can't even explain it. It was unreal," he said. "I've been a part of the two teams at the last two Olympics that came out behind, and I think I wanted it more than anybody, not just for myself, but to show that we are the nation to be beat in that relay."

Garrett Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones also did their parts swimming the middle legs of the relay, overcoming the enormous pressure of making sure they didn't mess up Phelps' attempt to take down the Holy Grail of Olympic records.

IN HUNT FOR $1 MILLION

But Lezak should get a share of that $1 million bonus that Phelps has been promised if he goes on to beat Spitz's mark.

"I never lost hope," said Lezak, who trains alone but has been a longtime stalwart on the relay team. "I don't know how I was able to take it back that fast, because I've never been able to come anywhere near that for the last 50."

While the Americans whooped it up on deck, Bernard clung to the wall, his head down. The swimmer who had talked confidently of beating the Americans — "smashing" them, some media reported — was the last one to leave the pool.

The French were second in 3:08.32 — eight one-hundredths of a second behind. Australia took the bronze in 3:09.91. In fact, the top five all went below the record set yesterday.

"I felt I was in the lead," Bernard said. "I knew I had to accelerate, but it got harder."The Americans also were on the losing end of a last-lap comeback.

Katie Hoff was again denied a gold medal when Rebecca Adlington of Britain rallied over the final 50 meters to overtake the 19-year-old, who had settled for a bronze the previous day in the 400 individual medley.

Adlington won in 4:03.22, while Hoff took the silver in 4:03.29. Adlington's teammate Joanne Jackson earned the bronze in 4:03.52. Defending champion Laure Manaudou finished last in the eight-woman final.

Hoff still has three more individual events, plus a relay.

"I was a little disappointed I was so close," she said. "But I got a bronze yesterday and a silver this morning. If I keep climbing at this pace, I'll be happy."

MORE MARKS FALL

Two more world marks fell today when Kosuke Kitajima of Japan finished off American Brendan Hansen's hopes of an individual medal, winning the 100 breaststroke in 58.91. Kitajima pounded the water defiantly and let out a scream after breaking Hansen's 2-year-old record of 59.13.

Hansen was left without a medal, fading to fourth behind silver medalist Alexander Dale Oen of Norway and Hugues Duboscq of France, who took bronze.

Kirsty Coventry didn't even bother waiting until a final to set a record in the 100 backstroke. The Zimbabwean won her semifinal heat in 58.77, taking down Natalie Coughlin's mark of 58.97 set at the U.S. trials last month.

They'll go head to head in tomorrow's final. Coughlin won her heat in 59.43 with a nice, comfortable swim.

Seven world records have been set through the first 2 1/2 days at the Water Cube.

Phelps had another race to take care of, moving on to the final of the 200 free with the fourth-fastest time of the semis. Trying to save as much energy as possible for the leadoff leg of the relay, the American touched in 1:46.28 to finish behind teammate Peter Vanderkaay (1:45.76) and South Korea's Park Tae-hwan (1:45.99).

Jean Basson of South Africa also went faster in the other heat, winning in 1:46.13.

Libby Trickett of Australia just missed another world record in the women's 100 butterfly, winning gold with a time of 56.73. American Christine Magnuson claimed the silver (57.10) and another Australian, Jess Schipper, took the bronze (57.25).