Michael Phelps turns 31 on Thursday, but there's no rest for the elder statesman. A night after qualifying for his fifth Olympics the legendary swimmer will be back at it, trying to get in position for a second bid via the 200-meter individual medley.That's just part of what's on tap during Day 5 of the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, Nebraska.Three more finals are on tap for Thursday, with Olympic spots up for grabs in the men's 200-meter breaststroke and 100-meter freestyle and women's 200-meter butterfly. There are also a quartet of preliminaries (women's 100-meter freestyle, men's 200-meter backstroke, women's 200-meter breaststroke and men's 200 IM) during the morning session, followed by semifinals in those disciplines in the evening session.Adams makes the most of her second chanceCammile Adams went through a roller coaster of emotions on Wednesday, thinking her Olympic dreams were crushed due to a disqualification only to find out later she'd been saved by instant replay. She made the most of that reprieve, winning her semifinal heat to advance to Thursday's 200 fly finals.During her preliminary race, officials claimed Adams made an illegal turn coming off the wall.Here's how Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post described the issue:In the butterfly, swimmers approach the wall swimming on their stomach, then rotate their shoulders and hips vertically into the water, dipping underneath the surface before thrusting off the wall with their feet. They are not allowed to be on their backs when they turn. An on-deck official ruled that Adams was too much on her back when she made one turn.The 24-year-old Adams had breezed to a time of 2:08.29, nearly a second ahead of any other swimmer, but because of the turn issue she was initially disqualified. That is, until a video review determined she'd been in the right."The perception by the official was that she came off the wall on her back, and the underwater camera confirmed that it has her toes on the wall, [and] she was fully on her side moving toward her stomach," David Marsh, Adams' coach, told Swimming World.Adams admitted there was "a lot of panic" while waiting for the ruling, she told Svrluga. Once the DQ was overturned, she was able to resume preparation for the semifinal heat. She cruised in that as well, finishing in 2:07.31. That was 0.48 seconds ahead of Hali Flickinger and 0.66 seconds in front of 16-year-old Cassidy Bayer.Adams will be the favorite to win the 200 fly, the same event she made the 2012 London Games in. She took fifth that year.Another record for Cordes'Kevin Cordes broke his own U.S. Open record in the 200 breast semifinals on Wednesday, his time of 2:07.81 besting his mark from August 2014 by 0.05 seconds. It's the second-fastest time in the world this year and second-best American time ever in the event, trailing the 2:07.42 that Eric Shanteau posted in Rome in 2009.Based on his splits, he's got a good shot of topping the world record (2:07.01, by Japan's Akihiro Yamaguchi in 2012) in Thursday's finals."Cordes was under world-record pace at the last turn, but eased up to save some energy for the final," according to the Associated Press.Cordes, a six-time NCAA champion at Arizona from 2011-14, has already qualified for Rio in the 100 breast. He'll turn 23 on Aug. 13, midway through the Olympics.It's no guarantee that he'll win on Thursday, though, not with two great challengers on his heels. Josh Prenot swam a 2:08.41 while Will Licon was at 2:09.08, both personal bests. Including Cordes, all three were under 1:02 at the 100-meter mark in the semifinals, so expect a tight finish in the finals.The road to repeat starts for AdrianNathan Adrian is the defending Olympic gold medalist in the 100 freestyle. He'll be looking to lock up a chance to claim a second consecutive gold in that event by qualifying in Thursday's finals after cruising to heat wins in the preliminaries and semifinals on Wednesday.Adrian's time bested Ryan Held by more than half a second. It also puts him in good position to challenge his personal best, the 47.52 he swam in winning in London in 2012.It should be an altogether fast final based on the prelim and semifinal times. SwimSwam.com has been charting and comparing times from the last few U.S. Olympic Trials in certain events and noted that the fastest prelim time in 2012 (49.08) "would have actually only ranked sixth" this time around. However, they're still far slower than the 2008 Trials prelims, when the prevalence of sleek full-body swimsuits resulted in 10 swimmers going under 49 seconds in that opening round.While Adrian seems assured of finishing in the top two, and thus advancing to Rio, that second spot is wide-open. The difference between second-place Held and sixth-place William Copeland was 0.27 seconds, and in the middle of that pack is 35-year-old Anthony Ervin. The oldest swimmer competing in the Trials, Ervin qualified fifth.Ervin will be looking to make his third U.S. Olympic team, having swum at the Sydney Games in 2000 and London in 2012. He tied teammate Gary Hall Jr. for gold in the 50 freestyle and was part of the silver-medal 4x100 relay team in 2000.On the preliminary frontThursday marks the start of the second half of the eight-day U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials, but there are still several events that haven't gotten started. Four more will get underway with preliminaries in the morning and the semifinals during prime time.Phelps, fresh off his win in the 200 fly, is among the big names getting started in the 200 IM. That's also where Ryan Lochte will get his last shot to qualify for Rio as an individual.A groin injury suffered in Saturday's 400 IM prelims has wreaked havoc on him all week. His fourth-place finish in Wednesday's 200 free finals earns him a spot on the 200 relay team in August, but after swimming the sixth-fastest prelim time in the 100 free, he withdrew to focus on the IM."You can never go in knowing that you're going to make the team, just because the U.S. is one of the hardest countries to make the Olympic team for because they're so strong in every event," the 31-year-old Lochte told the Associated Press (h/t Daytona Beach News-Journal). "You've just got to hope and believe that you can."Also in action Thursday is reigning Olympic men's 200 backstroke gold medalist Tyler Clary, who has come up short in three other events so far but still has his best to go. The 27-year-old, who suffers from asthma, told Keith Lair of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that he set an Olympic record in London in 2012 with "somewhat deteriorating pulmonary issues."Changes in World Anti-Doping Agency rules make it possible for him to take his asthma medication right before a race and to use a rescue inhaler, drastically improving his chances to get back to the Olympics.Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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