Phelps turns in fastest 200 butterfly time of year

This past weekend, he improved on that May meet by 7.7 seconds in the 200m butterfly, 2.14 seconds in the 100m butterfly and 5.5 seconds in the 200m individual medley.

Coming off the excitement of that race, Phelps returned some 14 1/2 hours later for the prelims of the 100 fly. But in a far more complicated event, he couldn’t actually send another jolt of energy through the sellout crowd at San Antonio’s Northside Aquatics Center, could he? Yep.

“The comments were interesting”, said Phelps, with a knowing grin.

Phelps’ stunner – 1 minute, 52.94 seconds at the U.S. national championships Friday night – came after months of lackluster performances and serious problems away from the pool.

Michael Phelps held up one finger, leaving no doubt he’s No. 1. What he has instead is the confidence that he is again arguably the best male swimmer in the world. Also, he took a break from training after his DUI arrest, going through six weeks of inpatient therapy in Arizona.

Being Michael Phelps, he bounced back to capture four golds and two silvers at the 2012 Games, making him the most decorated athlete in Olympic history. No, the story is that next summer in Rio, Phelps, without question the greatest swimmer of all time, has the potential to be the best he’s ever been.

Apparently, Le Clos didn’t care, even referring to himself in the third person during his commentary to the media. But about world records. This is a place we really haven’t been in a long time leading up to an Olympics.

“I feel so old it’s kind of wild“, Phelps, 30, said in a poolside interview as the large crowd roared in approval. “He’s very close”.

Sun has dominated the distance freestyle events at the Olympics and world championships in recent years and his absence was described as “shocking” by the official Twitter feed of FINA. The performance marked the 15th time Phelps has cracked the 51-second barrier, and the sixth time he’s gone sub-51 in textile.

“Anything is possible if you do want something bad enough”, he said (via the BBC), about winning his ninth national title in the event. But the emotions of the swim – and what he’s been through over the past year – were a bit overwhelming. “I know what I have to do to be able to get there”. “I wasn’t sure it would happen this quickly”.

On his own, Phelps will be facing much stiffer competition at the Olympics than he did in Texas.

Phelps is scheduled to swim in the 11th of 12 heats in the 200 breaststroke Monday morning.

Phelps, obviously, wasn’t permitted to contend this year in the most vital meet outside the Olympics. I don’t do it to talk trash. I know my facts about the sport of swimming.”. “Thats what hes got to think about really.”.

“It goes hand in hand with what I’ve been doing in training”.

Cassidy Bayer finished second, swimming the fastest 15-16 200 butterfly since 1981.