Ian Crocker broke his own world record in the 100m butterfly and turned a much-anticipated rematch with Michael Phelps into a rout at the world swimming championships on Saturday.
The two Americans were virtually even off the blocks, but Crocker already had a sizable lead when their heads emerged from the water. He was about a half-body length ahead at the turn, and didn't have to worry about Phelps making one his patented charges in the final 50m.
With arms pumping furiously, Crocker stretched out his advantage all the way to the wall. He touched in 50.40 seconds -- easily eclipsing the mark of 50.76 that he set in beating Phelps at last year's US Olympic trials.
PHOTO: REUTERS
But Phelps won the race that really mattered, overtaking Crocker at the Athens Olympics.
That didn't sit well with Crocker, who was determined to regain the upper hand in his trademark event, even though it meant beating the world's best swimmer.
"It was definitely my goal to break the record," he said. "I didn't know it would be by that much. When you're racing against Phelps, you always have to assume it's going to take a world record to win. My time definitely surprised me."
Crocker didn't have to worry about Phelps, who took the silver but wasn't even close to the winner at 51.65. Ukraine's Andriy Serdinov claimed the bronze.
"I haven't trained much fly this year," Phelps said. "But I don't want to use that as an excuse. That was a horrible swim for me."
It was another big night for the Africans, an emerging force at these championships.
South Africa's Roland Schoeman won the 50m free for his second gold of the week, even though he wasn't feeling well, and Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry completed a sweep of the 100m-200m backstroke.
"I think being sick takes off the pressure You don't know what to expect," Schoeman said. "Last night, I felt like death."
He felt on top of the world after swimming the length of the pool in 21.69 -- just five-hundredths of a second off Alexander Popov's world record and beating Popov's meet record from 2003.
Croatia's Duje Draganja took the silver and Poland's Bartosz Kizierowski the bronze.
Coventry won the 200m back in 2 minutes, 8.52 seconds, adding to her victory in the 100m and a silver-medal showing in the 200m individual medley. The silver went to Margaret Hoelzer of the US, with Japan's Reiko Nakamura taking the bronze.
Coventry will go down as one of the biggest female stars in Montreal.
"I'm just excited I'm at a point where I'm not freaking out about being in a world championship," she said. "Being a world champion, it gives me confidence and helps me swim my best."
Kate Ziegler isn't doing so bad, either. The 17-year-old looks like America's next great distance swimmer, winning the 800m freestyle to go along with an earlier victory in the 1,500m free.
The teenager finished more than two seconds ahead of Canada's Brittany Reimer in 8:25.31. The real race was for second, with Reimer holding off Olympic champion Ai Shibata of Japan by 0.27.
"It helped to have done well in the 1,500m," Ziegler said. "I had a lot of confidence. I knew my endurance was there."
The Australian women won two more golds.
The powerful 400 medley relay team just missed breaking it's own world record, settling for a meet record of 3:57.47. That was just 0.15 off their world standard, set last summer in Athens.
Natalie Coughlin gave the Americans an early lead in the backstroke -- nearly 1 seconds ahead of Sophie Edington -- but the Australians surged to the lead with breaststroke world record holder Leisel Jones.
Jess Schipper (butterfly) and Libby Lenton (free) finished off the dominating win.
"We have such an awesome team this year," Schipper said. "I'm just glad to be part of it."
The US team grabbed the silver in 3:59.92. Germany took the bronze, while the Russians were disqualified.
Australia's Danni Miatke won the 50m butterfly, a non-Olympic event. The next two spots went to a pair of Swedish swimmers, Anna-Karin Kammerling and Therese Alshammar.
"People ask you when you say that you're a swimmer, `Are you any good?'" Miatke said. "Now I'll be able to tell them, `Yes, I'm a world champion.'"
While Phelps has won four golds medals and, now, a silver at the world championships, he's not happy with his performance. He failed to qualify for the final of the 400m freestyle and was a disappointing seventh in the 100m free.
Two of his four golds have come on relay teams, and Grant Hackett is likely to win the most individual medals on the men's side. The Australian star already has two golds and a silver, and he's an overwhelming favorite in Sunday's 1,500m free.
"Everything that has happened this week is a wake-up call," Phelps said. "It's all going to be used for motivation."
Crocker is motivated to become the first swimmer to break the 50-second barrier in the 100m fly.
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