Phelps qualifies for second event on men’s swim team
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Michael Phelps is 2 for 2.
The Mark Spitz wannabe earned a second spot on the U.S. Olympic team Friday, winning the 200-meter freestyle to set up a possible head-to-head showdown with Ian Thorpe at the Athens Games.
Phelps came back 42 minutes later and won his heat in the 200 butterfly, advancing to Saturday’s final.
He has entered six individual events at the American trials with an eye toward breaking Spitz’s record of seven Olympic gold medals, set 32 years ago at Munich. The 19-year-old from Baltimore also hopes to swim in all three relays.
Before setting odds on a Phelps-vs.-Thorpe matchup, the American left open the possibility of withdrawing from the 200 free in Athens if it interferes with his other events.
“We’re still going to have to see how things play out,” Phelps said. “I love to race the best. It definitely would be a little appealing.”
Natalie Coughlin, the most heralded U.S. woman in the pool, finally made her first Olympic team by winning the 100 backstroke. On the men’s side, friendly rivals Aaron Peirsol and Lenny Krayzelburg went 1-2 in the 100 back.
In the day’s other final at the portable pool set up along the waterfront in Long Beach, Amanda Beard made her third straight Olympic team by beating a loaded field in the 100 breaststroke. She held off three other former Olympians and four-time NCAA champion Tara Kirk.
On Wednesday, Phelps broke his own world record in the 400 individual medley. He didn’t come close to Thorpe’s mark in the 200 free, touching the wall in 1 minute, 46.27 seconds, but at least earned a chance to face the Australian in an individual race.
Knowing he had another race to go, Phelps didn’t push too hard in the 200 free. He fell short of his American record, 1:45.99, and was more than 2 seconds shy of Thorpe’s world mark, 1:44.06.
Klete Keller, who already had made the team by winning the 400 free, likely claimed another spot by taking second at 1:46.87.
In the 200 fly, Phelps moved on to the final with the best semifinal time, 1:56.66. He’ll be matched against Tom Malchow, the defending gold medalist from Sydney.
Peirsol just missed Krayzelburg’s world record, coming up four-hundredths short in 53.64. Krayzelburg kept his mark and, as a bonus, claimed an expected spot on the Olympic team by touching the wall second. He was a mere tenth of a second ahead of Peter Marshall.