Phelps wins, but not pleased

He fails to break U.S., world records in 200 free, 200 fly

By Kevin Van Valkenburg | Sun Reporter

August 3, 2006

IRVINE, Calif. // At some point during the past three years -- it's difficult to pin down when, exactly -- there was a subtle, but important, change in the way the swimming world looked at Michael Phelps.

The hunter, after years of clawing his way to the top of the mountain, suddenly became one of the hunted.

It happens to every great athlete, and it happens, eventually, in every sport. It's part of the natural progression of competition. Phelps, who knocked down world records with relative ease as a Baltimore teenager, often leaving the entire field in his wake, entered his 20s and was suddenly forced to spend considerable energy every meet just to stay in front of the field.

Phelps still hasn't lost at this week's U.S. National Championships, but his victories continue to be weighed down by the heavy burden of elite expectations. Phelps won both the 200-meter freestyle and the 200-meter butterfly last night, giving him three national titles this year, and 30 for his career.

But because Phelps has previously set the bar so high, there has been a hint of frustration and disappointment in his voice and his mannerisms this week as he has, thus far, failed to break either a world or American record.

His time in the 200-meter butterfly (1 minute, 54.32 seconds) yesterday was the fourth-fastest time in history (he also owns the other three), and yet when Phelps looked up at the scoreboard after he touched the wall, he grimaced, then gently punched the water in frustration. He was under his own world-record pace for much of the race, but faded just a hair at the end. It looked like an impressive performance considering that Phelps had just won the 200 freestyle 40 minutes earlier, but the Rogers Forge native, who now swims for Club Wolverine in Michigan, was less than thrilled.

"You can always tell when the crowd is behind you that something exciting is going on," Phelps said. "The butterfly is the stroke that's felt the best over the past two months, and to be so close is kind of disappointing. I have a number of things from that race that I know I can fix. My turns were just horrible today. I chopped every wall and hit them short every time."

Breezy conditions at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center didn't help Phelps' quest. In the 200-meter freestyle, a strong final 25 meters helped him hold off Klete Keller with a time of 1:45.63. It was fast enough for a long-course national meet record.

"It's definitely better than it was [Tuesday]," Phelps said. "I'm more satisfied with the two strokes. I know the things that I need to fix and improve on leading up to worlds [in 2007], so hopefully I can get it done."

Phelps' 30 career national titles put him in third place all time among American men, passing Adolph Keifer (1935-45) who won 28. Keifer, now 88 years old, made his mark on the sport both as a swimmer and as an innovator by developing safety equipment that is now widely-used.

"I always see his name on kickboards," Phelps said of Keifer. "Anytime you start talking about something someone did 35 to 40 years ago, it's pretty cool. Hopefully I can keep going and win a few more." Only Johnny Weissmuller (1922-28), with 38, and Charlie Daniels (1904-11), with 37, have captured more national titles.

The most exciting race of the night probably came on the women's side, and it represented a showdown between America's current, and future, golden girl of the pool. In the 200-meter freestyle, Towson's Katie Hoff set a long-course national meet record in the morning preliminary (1:58.03), but in the evening, Natalie Coughlin held off a charging Hoff by .05 of a second.

"That just shows that the Americans are getting stronger and stronger in the 200 free," Coughlin said.

For Hoff, it was another encouraging result. The 17-year-old desperately wants to be a member of America's relay teams in Beijing, and the race was further proof that her freestyle stroke continues to get stronger.

"This morning I was completely shocked to go that fast," Hoff said. "But I'm pretty excited with how I finished tonight."

• Notes // Daniel Madwed, 17, finished third in the 200-meter butterfly behind Phelps and David Tarwater. Madwed, who recently moved to Baltimore from Connecticut, joined North Baltimore Aquatic Club in June and will attend Towson in the fall.