Montreal – Michael Phelps wanted to try some new events at the World Swimming Championships.
Maybe he should have stuck with the ones he does so well.
Phelps finished a disappointing seventh in the 100-meter freestyle Thursday night, an also-ran in a thrilling race won by Italy’s Filippo Magnini.
Poland’s Otylia Jedrzejczak claimed the starring role on this night, breaking her world record in the women’s 200 butterfly.
But, before the evening was done, Phelps was back on top in one of his more familiar events. He won his third gold medal of the meet by repeating as the world champion in the 200 individual medley.
Still, Phelps admitted he’s not the same swimmer as the one who dominated the Athens Olympics last summer.
“The double was tough,” Phelps said. “Last year, it was easier because I was in a whole lot better shape than I am now. But it’s good for me to get ready for the next three years and the other meets coming up. I want to be able to double in as many meets as I can.”
Magnini held off the South African duo of Roland Schoeman and Ryk Neethling, winning in a meet-record time of 48.12 seconds.
And what about Phelps? He was never a factor.
“I wasn’t able to get out with those guys,” Phelps said. “I was in their wake and I was just destroyed.”
Phelps was last at the turn and managed to pass only one swimmer before touching in 48.99 – failing to even match his time from the semifinals a day earlier.
Jedrzejczak had no such problems in the 200 fly.
Australia’s Jess Schipper led until the final 25 meters, when Jedrzejczak pulled slightly ahead. Schipper made a great surge to the wall but came up short of the winning time: 2 minutes, 5.61 seconds.
Jedrzejczak broke her previous record of 2:05.78, set three years ago, to claim the gold. Schipper also eclipsed the previous mark in 2:05.65.
Phelps and his coach, Bob Bowman, wanted to expand the swimmer’s repertoire leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. So, they dropped two of his winning events from the Athens Games – the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley – in favor of the 100 and 400 freestyle. The decision didn’t work out so well, at least in the short term.
Phelps failed to qualify for the final of the 400, managing the 18th-best time in the preliminaries. And, even with defending Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband sitting out the championships to recover from an injury, the American was no match for his remaining competition in the 100. Schoeman, on world-record pace at the turn, faded to the silver in 48.28, just ahead of Neethling at 48.34.
In the 200 IM, Phelps trailed Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh after the butterfly and backstroke legs, but fought back to take a minuscule lead during the breaststroke. Getting a great push off the wall, Phelps came out of the water with a bigger edge and held it all the way to the end with a powerful freestyle stroke. Phelps won in 1:56.68, nearly a second ahead of Cseh. American Ryan Lochte took the bronze.
