The remarkable Michael Phelps shattered his third world record of the Swimming World Championships in Melbourne on Thursday to bag a fourth gold medal and stay on course for an ambitious tilt at eight titles.
The American marvel took apart his own world mark in the 200m individual medley, lowering it by almost a second after powering away from teammate Ryan Lochte on the final 50m freestyle leg to hit the wall in 1:54,98.
Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh grabbed bronze in a new European record time of 1:56,92.
”I’ve said this before: anything is possible if you put your mind to it. I’ve had a good attitude and I’ve been successful. I’m going to stick to what works,” said the 21-year-old Olympic champion.
Two world records tumbled and one was equalled on Thursday, with nine falling at the meet so far.
Emerging American star Leila Vaziri, in her first championships, was another swimmer in electric form, equalling her own world record in winning the women’s 50m backstroke gold medal.
She touched in 28,16 seconds to match the mark she set in the semifinals. Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus took silver (28,46) and Australia’s Tayliah Zimmer the bronze (28,50).
The United States, spurred by an amazing first leg by Natalie Coughlin, shaved the women’s 4x200m freestyle world record with a 7:50,09 swim to win ahead of Germany and France.
In a rare occurrence, Canada’s Brent Hayden and Italy’s defending champion Filippo Magnini shared gold in the 100m freestyle after a dead heat with both men home in 48,43. Australia’s Eamon Sullivan was third.
Jessicah Schipper was under her own world record pace in the 200m butterfly but narrowly missed the target in holding off the United States’s Kimberley Vandenberg and arch rival and defending champion Otylia Jedrzejczak of Poland.
She stormed through in 2:06,71 to gain sweet revenge after Jedrzejczak was controversially awarded the title two years ago in Montreal ahead of Schipper after a contested one-handed finish.
Phelps’s form is so hot that he was never going to lose an event he has now won at three consecutive world championships as he dabbles in eight races ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
”The test drive is going well so far. I’m halfway down as of tonight. I’ve gotten a lot of speed over the last year after a solid year of lifting — it’s definitely given me more muscle, I’ve got more speed,” he said.
”Being able to set the 200 fly record [in February 2006] with a full goatee, hair coming out of my cap and not really being in full race form was a surprise, and it shocked me. I knew something better could happen.”
Phelps had already set world records in winning the 200m freestyle and 200m butterfly. He was also part of the US team that won the 4x100m freestyle relay, giving him four gold with another four events to race.
A relieved Schipper said she now wanted to put the controversy of Montreal behind her.
”I was so relieved when I turned around and saw that I had won. I hope we can put this all behind us,” she said. ”Anything after this race is just closure.”
In the semifinals, Coughlin swum the second fastest 200m freestyle time in history (53,40) to just miss Britta Steffen’s record of 53,30 with Australia’s Libby Lenton a fraction further back. The final is on Friday.
Defending champion and world record holder Brendan Hansen pulled out of the 200m breaststroke heats with intestinal problems, leaving the door open for Kosuke Kitajima to snatch the title on Friday.
The Japanese star was under world record pace for the first 100m of his semifinal but eased to be the fastest qualifier in 2:10,30. — AFP
