Long Beach, Calif. ? Jenny Thompson knows she’ll have to swim a lot faster in Athens if she wants to win her own Olympic gold medal.

Larsen Jensen knows he’ll have to go a lot faster to catch Grant Hackett — and claim a $1 million bounty.

Thompson and Jensen closed a record-breaking U.S. Olympic swimming trials with victories in the final two races Wednesday, putting the final touches on a team that expects to be a major force in Greece next month.

Thompson won the 50-meter freestyle, giving her two individuals events in Athens. She already had qualified in the 100 butterfly.

The 31-year-old Thompson was slowest off the block but caught the field during a furious dash to the opposite wall. She won in 25.02 seconds, while Kara Lynn Joyce finished second (25.11) to also claim a second individual spot on the Olympic team.

Thompson’s winning time was only eighth-fastest in the world this year, and she’s not considered a strong contender in the 100 fly, either.

“I hope to go a lot faster than I did here,” she said. “I do feel like I’ve got a lot of room to improve between now and Athens. The goal is to get as close as I can to those (fastest) times.”

Thompson will be just the second American swimmer to take part in four Olympics, joining Dara Torres. Thompson has won 10 medals — more than any other U.S. woman — but her eight golds have all been in relays.

Individually, Thompson has been limited to a silver and a bronze, both in the 100 free. She failed to qualify for that event at these trials, the two spots going to Joyce and Natalie Coughlin.

“I feel like I’ll be complete whether I win an individual gold medal or not,” said Thompson, who is likely to be part of the relay teams again. “I’m just going to try to soak up as much of the atmosphere as possible. The first time I went, it was kind of a whirlwind.”

That was 1992 in Barcelona. Thompson will savor one more Olympics, then retire after the short-course world championships in October.

Jensen closed the record-shattering trials in appropriate fashion: setting an American mark in the 1,500 freestyle.

He became just the third U.S. man to go under 15 minutes at 14:56.71, overcoming the mark of 14:56.81 that earned Chris Thompson a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics.

The 18-year-old Jensen is a rising star of distance swimming, though he’ll have his work cut out for him in Athens. The Australians, led by Hackett, have long ruled the longest event in swimming.

Hackett’s world record (14:34.56) is more than 22 seconds faster than Jensen’s winning swim in Long Beach.

“It shows how far ahead he is in the sport of distance swimming,” Jensen said. “We’re behind. The whole world is behind.”

Hoping to spur more interest in the long distance events, USA Swimming is offering $1 million to an American swimmer who wins gold and sets a world record in either the women’s 800 or men’s 1,500.

Jensen downplayed the financial implications, knowing he would have to pull off an almost impossible swim to earn the bonus.

“I’m not going for the money,” he said. “Anyone who loves this sport isn’t doing it for the money. I just like pushing my body to the limits.”