ROME — Down goes Phelps.
It was bound to happen someday to Michael Phelps. But not this way and not in this race and certainly not at the hands of a relatively anonymous German swimmer with an exceedingly modest resume.
Paul Biedermann shed his anonymity only days ago when he broke a vaunted world record in the 400-meter freestyle. On Tuesday, he shed Phelps, handing the swim icon his first loss in about four years in an individual event at a major international meet.
This time, Phelps found himself in a swim reversal, becoming the guy in the rear-view mirror, left behind in Biedermann’s wake at the world championships. Biedermann beat Phelps by 1.22 seconds, taking away his world record in the 200-meter freestyle.
Biedermann went 1:42.00, and Phelps was second in 1:43.22. Last summer, Phelps won this race in a world-record 1:42.96 at the Olympics in Beijing, and Biedermann was sixth in 1:46.
“Deep down inside, I can’t be mad,” Phelps said. “I can’t be disappointed. Paul swam a great race. He split that 200 free pretty much perfect. I didn’t have anything in the last 50.”
Phelps was asked the obvious question: Was he beaten by the man or the suit? “The swimmer,” said Phelps, who is almost old school in still wearing Speedo’s LZR Racer.
Phelps’ coach, Bob Bowman, wasn’t so sure.
“I don’t want to put him in this situation again,” he said of Phelps. “I want swimming to go back to racing on a level playing field. I want it to happen as soon as possible. And the move to do it in April is unacceptable. It needs to happen Jan. 1, if not next Monday.”
Biedermann, who is wearing a controversial high-tech suit made by the Italian company Arena, has dropped six seconds in the 200 freestyle since 2007, mirroring his progress in the 400 freestyle. On Sunday, he served notice he would threaten Phelps by winning the 400 free and breaking Ian Thorpe’s long-held world record.
“I hope there will be a time I can beat Michael Phelps without the suit, of course,” Biedermann said. “And I hope it will be the next year or the next two years.”
