Michael Phelps

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Phelps does it again, smashes butterfly mark

MELBOURNE, Australia — On Tuesday at the world swimming championships, Michael Phelps felt "something special" was going to happen, and it did. On Wednesday, he felt "horrible."

But something special happened again.

SPORTS SCOPE: Full results

Phelps broke his own world record in the 200-meter butterfly by an almost incomprehensible 1.62 seconds, winning in 1:52.09. He improved the mark by the biggest margin in 48 years.

"I feel like a 12-year-old being able to drop a second off my best time. I feel like I'm an age-group swimmer again," Phelps said.

This meet is beginning to feel like the 2003 world championships, although Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, said it's "maybe even better than that." At the 2003 worlds, which was Phelps' coming-out, he won four gold medals and set five world records. The next year, he won six gold medals and eight overall at the Athens Olympics.

Here, Phelps has three gold medals and two world records with three individual events and two relays still to swim.

His first world record came Tuesday in the 200-meter freestyle, where he beat a seemingly unbeatable world record held by Australian legend Ian Thorpe.

On Wednesday in the 200 fly, considered his best event, Phelps beat second-place finisher Peng Wu of China by more than three seconds.

"When you win the 200 butterfly by three seconds," U.S. head coach Mark Schubert said, "what can you really say about that? I mean, that just makes your jaw drop. I don't know that I've ever seen somebody win a world championship in swimming by three seconds in a 200(-meter) event.

"Everyone was so blown away (Tuesday) because it was Thorpe's record, but that's probably the sensational swim of the meet."

France's Laure Manaudou also turned in a sensational swim Wednesday, winning the 200-meter freestyle in a world-record 1:55.52. Manaudou won the 400 free earlier in the week and is the first woman in 21 years to win both titles at a world championships.

"The 400 meters is my race, so I had a lot of pressure to do well, whereas today was a bit of a surprise," Manaudou said through a translator.

Grant Hackett continued his surprisingly subpar world championships on home soil by finishing seventh in the 800-meter freestyle final, losing his chance at a third consecutive world title in the event. Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli, a University of Southern California student, ended Hackett's reign.

Hackett still has the 1,500 free, where he's going for a fifth consecutive crown.

In the non-Olympic-distance 50-meter breaststroke, American Brendan Hansen won silver. U.S. teammate Leila Vaziri completed the 50-meter backstroke semifinal in a world-record 28.16 seconds.

"You just want to go world-record (time) so bad, just to be up with everybody else," said Vaziri, who is competing at her first world championships.

Nobody could keep up with Phelps in the 200 fly. By the time he made his last turn, he was racing solely against his own history. The sore arms he felt while warming up for the race carried him to an astonishing win.

PHELPS WATCH: Bar set high for Beijing

It marked the sixth time since 2001 that he's broken the 200 fly record.

"When I hit the wall, I was a little drawn back by it, but it was definitely exciting," he said.

Another potentially exciting final awaits Phelps on Thursday. He'll meet U.S. teammate Ryan Lochte in the 200-meter individual medley.

"Last summer I thought that was the greatest race of the year (at the Pan Pacific championships, where Phelps won in world-record time with Lochte 0.27 seconds behind)," Schubert said, "so I guess that's one I'm especially looking forward to. I think Ryan is swimming exceptionally well — and Michael's swimming exceptionally well."

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THIRD WORLD RECORD FOR PHELPS

Michael Phelps, seemingly unstoppable as he pursues his quest for eight titles in eight days, shattered his third world record in three days to collect his fourth gold medal of the week and extend his record golden haul in individual events at his four world championships to nine. The 21-year old American, who led the U.S. to victory in the 4x100 freestyle relay on Sunday, lowered his own 200 metres individual medley world mark on Day Five of the swimming on Thursday to add to the 200 freestyle and 200 butterfly records he had already set in his majestic procession through these 12th FINA World Championships. The U.S. women emphatically claimed their share of the spotlight, with Natalie Coughlin inspiring them to a superb win in the 4x200 metres freestyle relay in world record time to provide a dramatic close to the evening in a final for which they nearly failed to qualify from the morning’s heats. Fellow American Leila Vaziri had earlier equalled the world mark she had set just 24 hours before in the 50 metres backstroke, so the world record haul at the end of the night stood at nine broken and one equalled, with three days still to come. The Americans, fielding one of the strongest squads they have ever assembled, are runaway leaders in the medals table, having won 11 of the 22 events contested so far. It was not, however, an exclusive U.S. show in the Rod Laver Arena. Italy’s Filippo Magnini and Canada’s Brent Hayden shared the first dead-heat for gold in world championship history in the men’s 100 metres freestyle, while Australia’s Jessicah Schipper kept home fans cheering with a bold victory in the women’s 200 metres butterfly.

Phelps, who broke Ian Thorpe’s 200 freestyle world mark on Tuesday and his own 200 butterfly standard on Wednesday, made it a personal record treble with a storming victory which brought him an unprecedented third consecutive world 200 metres individual medley title. Phelps, so dominant in his freestyle and butterfly triumphs, had to withstand a determined challenge from fellow American Ryan Lochte in the medley but ultimately his peerless class prevailed and he won in one minute 54.98 seconds to lop 0.86 seconds from the 1:55.84 world mark he set at the Pan-Pacific championships in Victoria, Canada, on August 20 last year. Phelps, once again inside world record schedule all the way, stamped his authority on the opening butterfly leg but Lochte pegged him back a bit on the backstroke. Phelps strengthened his advantage on the breaststroke and finally broke his team-mate’s challenge on the concluding freestyle length in the Susie O’Neill pool. Lochte, twice a bronze medallist at the 2005 worlds, took the silver in 1:56.19 to match the silver he collected in Tuesday’s 100 backstroke. European champion Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, silver medallist behind Phelps and ahead of Lochte at the 2005 worlds, claimed the bronze in 1:56.92.

The United States, defending champions, only just managed to qualify for the final of the picturewomen’s 4x200 freestyle relay, claiming eighth and last place from the morning’s heats with a quartet including three reserves which finished just 0.11 seconds ahead of China, who themselves were bronze medallists at the last worlds. But the final was a different story and Coughlin, newly crowned 100 metres backstroke champion, produced a great lead-off swim of 1:56.43 - the third-fastest time ever - to put them way ahead of world record schedule. Dana Vollmer, Lacey Nimeyer and Katie Hoff finished off the job, stopping the clock at 7:50.09 to beat the 7:50.82 world mark posted by Germany at the European championships in Budapest last August. Germany had to content themselves with silver in 7:53.82 and France claimed bronze ahead of Australia in 7:55.96.

Magnini, the defending champion, and Hayden shared their dead-heat in the 100 freestyle in an extraordinarily tight battle in which a mere 0.09 seconds separated first from fifth. Brazil’s Cesar Cielo led at the turn in 22.83, well inside world record pace, but there was nothing in it on the return length when the race looked anybody’s. Magnini and Hayden won in 48.43, with Australia’s Eamon Sullivan snatching the bronze in 48.47. They must all have been relieved Phelps was not in the field because the American’s lead-off 100 freestyle time in Sunday’s relay was 0.01 seconds faster than the winning time in the dead-heat. Cielo was fourth in 48.51 and American Jason Lezak, fourth at the last two world championships, was denied a medal again in fifth place in 48.52. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Olympic champion in 2000 and 2004, was once more denied the world championship gold medal which has eluded him for nearly a decade. The Dutch veteran, second behind Phelps in the Melbourne 200 freestyle, finished sixth in 48.63, leaving his individual medal tally at world championships at six silvers and two bronzes.

Commonwealth champion Schipper won the women’s 200 butterfly title with a very gutsy swim, taking perhaps the most gruelling of events out at a fierce pace in the hope of getting far enough away from defending champion Otylia Jedrzejczak of Poland and the rest to withstand late challenges. Schipper, silver medallist behind Olympic champion Jedrzejczak at the 2005 worlds, forged away inside world record pace for the first 100 metres. She dropped off that schedule as the effort took its toll but she hung on bravely down the final length to win in 2:06.39, 0.99 seconds outside her own world mark. American Kimberly Vandenberg finished strongly to take the silver in 2:06.71 and Jedrzejczak, silver medallist in Sunday’s 400 metres freestyle, claimed the bronze in 2:06.90. “I’m so excited. I’m so relieved it’s all over,” said Schipper, who had lost her world 100 butterfly title when she finished second to fellow Australian Libby Lenton on Monday.

Vaziri, fuelled with annoyance at her failure to make the 100 backstroke final, found golden consolation by winning the 50 backstroke and equalling the world mark of 28.16 she had set in the semi-finals the previous evening. The 21-year-old American took charge from the outset and won by a substantial 0.30 seconds. European silver medallist Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus took a world silver in 28.46 and Australia’s Tayliah Zimmer the bronze in 28.50.

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[Compassionate_Conservative]

Thanks Luno!

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You're welcome Compassionate_Conservative

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Michael wins the gold medal on men´s 100 meters butterfly

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