South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan notched two victories at the Santa Clara Grand Prix on Friday, holding off Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps to win the 100m freestyle.
Park also won the 400m free, the event in which he captured gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, notching a comfortable victory over Canadian Ryan Cochrane in three minutes, 44.99 seconds.
The South Korean won the 100m free in 48.92 seconds, ahead of Phelps, whose 14 Olympic gold medals include his spectacular eight-gold haul in Beijing, at 49.61 seconds.
Photo: Reuters
The American, attempting to re-establish his former dominance, bounced back to win the 100m butterfly in 52.41 seconds, with Australian Nick D’Arcy second at 53.34 seconds.
Fresh from high-altitude training in Colorado, Phelps said he was happy with his butterfly performance.
“The fly I felt good. I was able to connect my stroke a little bit more and get my hips into it,” Phelps said. “At the end of the day, I was kind of bummed about the finish. I thought I was kind of long on the finish. But it’s a good time. I can’t really complain. I feel like I had a lot of pop on the first 50 than I did earlier in the year. So I think that’s a lot better.”
As for the 100m free, Phelps said he could not recover from a sluggish start.
“I couldn’t get into it,” Phelps said. “I couldn’t run him down.”
The meeting is the last significant US tune-up for the world championships in Shanghai next month.
Phelps is slated to swim in two other events, the 200m backstroke and the 200m butterfly.
So far, Phelps said, he was happy with his performance. After an erratic start to the season, he hopes to keep building momentum for Shanghai and on to next year’s London Olympics.
“I think we’ve just been able to work on being able to finish more and stronger,” he said. “So I think that’s going to play out a little bit more.”
Former world record-holder Brendan Hansen, mounting a comeback after leaving the sport following disappointment at the Beijing Games, finished second in the 200m breaststroke, 1.04 seconds behind winner Eric Shanteau.
Eleven-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin touched first in the women’s 100m freestyle, but was disqualified for staying under water too long at the start. Talented teenager Missy Franklin won in 54.33 seconds.
American Dana Vollmer won the women’s 100m butterfly in 58.22 seconds, ahead of compatriot Elaine Breeden (58.84 seconds) and Australian star Stephanie Rice (58.98 seconds).
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