Phelps looks strong, leads 200 fly qualifying at nationals

Michael Phelps competes in the preliminary round of the men’s 200 meter butterfly at the U.S. swimming nationals, Friday, August 7, 2015, in San Antonio.

Phelps held up one finger when he saw his time on the scoreboard, then pounded the water defiantly – first with one hand, then with both.

Eighteen-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps and six-time Olympic medalist Allison Schmitt add some significant star power to the USA Swimming Phillips 66 National Championships, which opened Thursday in San Antonio, Texas. So hes treating nationals as his biggest meet of the year, looking to post times that would have been good enough to put him on the top of the podium in Kazan.

In the race itself, Cseh overtook the South African in the second half of the stretch after a weak start and trailing behind during the first two fifty-metre lengths, finally beating le Clos with two tenth of a second to cross the finish line at 1:53.48.

“I felt good”, Phelps said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve gone 1:55 low in the morning”.

Schooling also set a new Asian record in the 50-metre butterfly event on August 3.

After coming out of retirement in 2014, Phelps initially resisted swimming the 200 fly.

Shields and Cseh were the fastest qualifiers with a time of 51.03s. Le Clos won the silver medal in the 100m fly at the 2012 Olympics. Im going to really go for his world record next year.”.

“Hes definitely pushed when people say things, ” Bowman replied, breaking into a sly smile.