BEIJING – Michael Phelps set an Olympic record Saturday in his first race of the Beijing Games, winning the preliminaries of the 400-meter individual medley in 4 minutes, 7.82 seconds at the National Aquatics Center.

Phelps, 23, of Baltimore, pulled away from an eight-person pack after the second turn of an event in which he holds the world record. He was on world-record pace until the fourth turn.

“I’m happy to get the first-race jitters sort of out,” said Phelps, who will be joined by fourth-place finisher Ryan Lochte in tonight’s finals. “The first race is probably one of the most important ones, getting it out of your system. I’m pretty satisfied with that time. I didn’t think I was going to be that fast.”

The 400 IM is one of five individual events for Phelps, trying to break Mark Spitz’s record of seven Olympic gold medals, set at the 1972 Munich Games. He also will swim the 200 IM, the 200 freestyle, the 100 and 200 butterfly and three relays.

American Michael Phelps set an Olympic record in the preliminaries of the 400-meter individual medley Saturday at the National Aquatics Center in Beijing. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

David J. Phillip