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Phelps smashes another world record

Michael Phelps races to set a new world record in the men's 200m butterfly final at the World Swinning Championships in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday. His record-breaking time was 1:52.09. PHOTO: AP

Michael Phelps did it again, setting his second world record in as many nights.

He was joined in the world record parade yesterday at the world swimming championships by fellow US swimmer Leila Vaziri and Laure Manaudou of France.

Phelps broke the 200m butterfly in a time of 1 minute, 52.09 seconds. It bettered his own mark of 1:53.71 set on Feb. 17 of this year in Columbia, Missouri.

"I surprised myself, I went so fast," Phelps said.

"I wanted to go 52.00 but I didn't expect to swim 52.00. I'm showing I'm in solid shape now. I had a really good swim earlier in the season where I broke the world record. I wanted to take it out tonight, so I'm pretty happy," he said.

Wu Peng of China took the silver and Nikolay Skvortsov of Russia was third.

Vaziri set the world 50m backstroke record in a semi-final. Her time of 28.16 seconds broke the previous mark of 28.19 set by Janine Pietsch of Germany in Berlin on May 25, 2005.

Manaudou, who won the 400m freestyle gold on Sunday, set her new mark in the 200m freestyle, finishing in 1:55.52, breaking a 24-hour-old record set by Italian Federica Pellegrini of 1:56.47 in Tuesday's semi-finals.

Second-place finisher Annika Lurz of Germany also bettered Pellegrini's record, finishing in 1:55.68 yesterday.

Pellegrini took third place in the final in a time of 1:56.97.

Manaudou, talking to French television, said she was inspired by the world record performances by others yesterday.

"I told myself I had to have one, too," said Manaudou, who pulled out of the 50m backstroke semi-final two races earlier yesterday to conserve her strength for the 200m freestyle.

Oleg Lisogor of Ukraine won the men's 50 breaststroke, an event that is not in the Olympics. He finished in 27.66 seconds, beating out American Brendan Hansen by 0.03 seconds.

Hansen took the silver in 27.69. Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa earned the bronze. Japan's Kosuke Kitajima was fifth.

In another non-Olympic event, Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia won the gold medal in the men's 800m with 7:46.95.

Grant Hackett of Australia, the defending champion and world record holder in the event, was seventh, nearly nine seconds behind.

Hackett, Australia's highest-profile swimmer following the retirement of Ian Thorpe, was also defending his 400m freestyle title here, but finished third.

With two sub-par performances, he'll be struggling to win the 1,500 meters on Sunday, the final night of the meet.

"It was tough for me tonight, and it's going to be even tougher in the 1,500," Hackett said.

"The fitness is not quite there," he said.

Just as he did in winning the 200 freestyle, Phelps raced to the lead and stayed there, touching in 1 minute, 52.09 seconds.

Phelps simply crushed his rivals, beating silver medalist Wu of China by 3.04 seconds. Phelps already owned the seven fastest times in history in the event.

The 21-year-old US swimmer was under world-record pace the entire race, and extended his lead at every turn.

At 100 meters, he dipped 1.65 seconds under his mark and stretched it to an amazing 1.78 seconds through 150 meters as fans in Rod Laver Arena cheered louder and louder.

Phelps was going so fast, the red line that tracks world record pace was actually behind him. He cruised home nearly two body lengths and a world away from Wu, who finished in 1:55.13 for China's first medal of the swim meet.

Phelps hit the wall, turned around and raised both index fingers in the air, signaling his two world records so far.

Phelps is 3-for-3, with victories in the 400m freestyle relay, the 200 free and 200 fly. He set a world record in defeating Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands by 2.5 seconds in the 200m free on Tuesday.

After that effort, Phelps came into his latest final exhausted, his arms still tired from the night before.

"I felt horrible. I felt horrible in the warmup pool," he said. "But it looks like things are rolling in the right direction."

Indeed, Phelps remains on track to win eight golds.

Still left are the 200m and 400m individual medleys -- he holds the world record in both -- and two more relays that are strong possibilities for US gold.
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