Swimming legend Michael Phelps shunned the high-tech swimsuit and paid the price on a day when four world records were set in the fourth leg of the short-course World Cup on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old US star failed to qualify for the final in two out of the three races he contested, before finishing the day with bronze in the 100m individual medley.
Phelps, who won an unprecedented eight gold medals at last year’s Beijing Olympics, did have the excuse that he chose to anticipate the FINA ban on high-tech bodysuits due to come into force on Jan. 1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Until then swimmers can choose either to stick with the bodysuits which sparked an avalanche of world records at the world championships in Rome in July or switch back to more conventional attire.
And Phelps, competing for the first time since Rome, opted not to use the controversial suit and clocked 47.77 seconds in the heats of the 100m freestyle, the 16th fastest time and 1.84 secondsslower than the best time set by Sweden’s Stefan Nystrand (45.93 seconds).
He was then disqualified in the 100m backstroke heats for an overlong push-off.
Phelps did make the final of the 100m individual medley and claimed the bronze in 52.14 behind South African winner Gerhard Zandberg, who clocked 51.77, and Russia’s Sergey Fesikov (51.86).
“Without the suit I’ve the impression of being naked,” the American said. “But we have to get used to it so it’s good to start now.”
The Stockholm meeting was also the first time that Phelps has taken part in a short-course event since 2006 and the first time in Europe since 2001, also in Stockholm.
“Short course is really different,” Phelps said. “There are walls [all the time] ... This morning I said to myself, ‘Let’s see if I get through today.’ The most important for me is to race. It’s what I enjoy the most.”
“I wanted to swim at least one [final] this evening. [Third in the 100m medley] it’s not bad given I wasn’t in form,” Phelps said.
The high-tech polyurethane bodysuit was a must to break records in the Swedish capital.
Chinese swimmer Zhao Jing improved her own short-course world record in the 50m backstroke with a time of 25.82 seconds. She had set her previous mark earlier on Tuesday in the heats with a time of 26.08 seconds.
Australia’s Felicity Galvez broke the 100m butterfly mark, timing 55.46 seconds to eclipse the previous record of 55.68 seconds set by compatriot Jessicah Schipper in Hobart, Australia, on Aug. 12.
And Brazilian swimmer Kaio Almeida broke the men’s 200m butterfly world record, timing 1 minute, 49.11 seconds, to better the 1:50.53 set by Russia’s Nikolay Skvortsov on Feb. 11 in St Petersburg.
Nystrand gave the home crowd something to cheer when he claimed gold in the 100m freestyle.
“I thought that Phelps and [Amaury] Leveaux would be quicker. But at the same time there are a lot of fast guys. Brent [Hayden, 2nd] was there, [Danila] Izotov was there [3rd],” Nystrand said.
Germany’s Paul Biedermann, who beat Phelps in the 200m freestyle at the world championships this year in Rome was forced out of the 100m and 400m freestyle event because of a thigh injury.
Also failing to make it into the final of the 100m freestyle were French speedster Frederic Bousquet (47.53 seconds), Australia’s Eamon Sullivan (47.38 seconds) and Filipo Magnini of Italy (47.74 seconds).
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