Posted on Thu, Jul. 3, 2008
OMAHA, Neb. - Michael Phelps is halfway home to setting his program for the Beijing Olympics, having won the 200-meter butterfly in the U.S. swimming trials.
Phelps just missed his own world record last night, touching in 1 minute, 52.20 seconds. His mark of 1:52.09 was set during last year's world championships in Australia.
Phelps pulled away from a fading Davis Tarwater after the final flip. Gil Stovall rallied to claim the probable second spot on the U.S. swimming team in 1:53.86. Tarwater slipped to third in 1:54.46.
Katie Hoff, Phelps' 19-year-old former teammate at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, put on another show, winning two events about 45 minutes apart and setting American records in both.
She added the 200 freestyle and 200 individual medley to her growing list of trials wins - rallying to beat Natalie Coughlin in the second of those.
"I'm in great shape," Hoff said after pulling off swimming's version of the daily double. "I've trained to swim a lot of events in one night. I'm glad my training pulled through."
Hoff already won the 400 IM and 400 freestyle, and her triumph in the 200 free assured a spot in the 800 free relay. She still has two more events to go, the 100 and 800 free, and a top-four finish in the shorter race would get her on at least one more relay team.
She won the freestyle with a time of 1:55.88, which broke her own American mark of 1:56.08, set in February, but fell short of Laure Manaudou's all-time best of 1:55.52 at last year's world championships.
That is fastest time in the world this year, but she had to hold off Allison Schmitt, who claimed the expected second Olympic spot at 1:55.92.
Earlier in the day, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale set back-to-back American records in the 100-meter freestyle preliminaries.
Phelps' time of 47.92 seconds in the 100 free should lock up his spot on the 400 freestyle relay in Beijing. Having accomplished that goal, he dropped out of the evening semifinals.
"He was trying to break 48, and he did. That sets him up nicely for the relay and, hopefully, answers some questions," Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, said. "Clearly, I think Michael should be on the relays. We wanted to just kind of relieve any controversy."
At the Athens Games, Gary Hall Jr. complained that U.S. coaches gave special treatment to Phelps by putting him on the 400 free relay, even though he didn't compete in the 100 free in the trials.
"Hopefully, that should be a fast-enough time to hopefully be on the relay," Phelps said. "That's my best time."
Bowman said Phelps wasn't tempted to continue on in the 100 free because his 200 butterfly final was about 20 minutes later last night.
"That double is cruel and unusual," Bowman said. "He could do it, but I wouldn't ask anybody to do it."
Winning a 100 freestyle semifinal heat last night in 47.58, Lezak broke the mark of 47.78 set in the morning preliminaries by Weber-Gale. Lezak, a 32-year-old from Irvine, Calif., was just off the world record of 47.50, established in March by France's Alain Bernard.
Ian Crocker was disqualified for a false start, similar to what happened at last year's world championships.
"I think it was a flinching foot again," he said. "I'm happy to have a race down and the time was good. That was the focus."
Brendan Hansen, who made the team in the 100 breaststroke, returned as the quickest qualifier in the 200 breaststroke prelims. His 2:11.29 topped 2004 Olympian Scott Usher, who was second in 2:11.41.
Hansen, a graduate of Haverford High, was kept up late Tuesday night after Aaron Peirsol won the 100 back in world-record time.
"I had a pretty excited roommate," Hansen said. "Aaron was on cloud nine. There's so much expectation about making the team. When you get that first one out of the way, then you know you're going to get into the rhythm of the meet and go as fast as you need to go."
email this
print this
REGIONAL SCOREBOARD
today's