Michael Phelps reacts after winning the 200-meter butterfly final at the Pan Pacific Championships on Wednesday.
(CNN) -- Swimming star Michael Phelps has failed to reach the final of the 400-meter individual medley at the Pan Pacific Championships on Thursday, missing out at a major event for the first time since 2005.
The 14-time Olympic champion could manage only the fourth-fastest time of the of the heats, meaning he missed out as teammates Ryan Lochte and Tyler Clary took the two U.S. berths for the later title race in Irvine, California.
The event features athletes from the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and 17 other nations outside Europe, with only two from each country allowed to take part in finals.
Phelps is the world record-holder and two-time Olympic gold medal winner in the event, which he vowed not to race again following the Beijing Games.
He missed a major final for the first time since the 400m freestyle at the 2005 world championships after Lochte clocked four minutes 08.77 seconds for the fastest time in the world this year and Clary registered 4:09.20 for the second quickest.
Phelps was a convincing winner in his first final of the event on Wednesday, but warned that he might struggle to qualify in the medley.
"It's going to be a hard one. It's going to be painful. I know that. I've got to be able to get up and swim in the morning," he said after winning the 200m
The 25-year-old led for the whole race to beat Australia's Nick D'Arcy by 0.62. Japan's Takeshi Matsuda was third.
It was short of his meeting record of 1:53.80 set in 1996, but still the fastest time in the world this year
"I was hurting," Phelps told reporters. "About the last 15 meters, I was like, 'Please get to the wall.' I felt a splash of water in the lane next to me and I was like, 'Please don't get run down. Please don't get run down.' "
Lochte, who beat Phelps for the first time at the U.S. national championships this month, cruised to victory in the 200m freestyle in the quickest time in the world this year of 1:45.30.
Lochte headed off South Korea's Park Tae Hwan (1:46.27) and fellow America Peter Vanderkaay (1:46.65).
Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol beat his own 100m backstroke record of 53.32 by .01 seconds as Americans won all but two of the men's events, with Brazil's Cesar Cielo taking out the 50m butterfly in 23.03 from compatriot Nicholas Santos (23.33).
Canada's first gold came from Ryan Cochrane in the 1,500m freestyle as he beat Chad La Tourette of the U.S. and China's Zhang Lin.
Australia dominated the women's events, with Marieke Guehrer and Emily Seebohm finishing first and second in the 50m butterfly ahead of American Christine Magnuson.
The 18-year-old Seebohm won the 100m backstroke from Japan's Aya Terakawa and Natalie Coughlin of the U.S. while Jessicah Schipper headed off Americans Teresa Crippen and Kathleen Hersey in the 200m butterfly.
The U.S. won two women's golds, with Kate Ziegler leading home compatriot Chloe Sutton in the 800m freestyle from Australia's Katie Goldman.
The 20-year-old Allison Schmitt won the 200m freestyle from Morgan Scroggy, with Australia's Blair Evans third
