ATHENS, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES // Michael Phelps surged to the wall and quickly searched for the scoreboard.
He liked what he saw.
Phelps turned in the most impressive performance so far in his comeback, posting the third-fastest time in the world this year while beating rival Ryan Lochte in the 100 metres butterfly at the Bulldog Grand Slam on Friday night.
Despite some problems with his turn, Phelps touched in 51.67 seconds, considerably faster than the 52.11 he posted at the Santa Clara Grand Prix three weeks ago. Lochte was a distant second in 53.08.
“I wanted to get under 52,” Phelps said, breaking into a big smile. “I was sick and tired of seeing 52.1.”
He had no trouble finishing ahead of Lochte, though it really was not a fair fight. Phelps’s longtime foe also competed in the 200 freestyle, winning the “B” final less than an hour before he returned to the water to face a rested Phelps. More important for Lochte – his left knee seemed to hold up well. This is his first meet since he reinjured the surgically repaired knee at the Mesa Grand Prix in April.
“I hope I lose,” said Lochte, who was planning to swim a gruelling six events at this meet. “It will just make me more hungry.”
Phelps is set to swim three events at the weekend meet on the University of Georgia campus, a hastily arranged event that gave some of the top swimmers on the east coast of the US a chance to swim one more time competitively before next month’s national championships at Irvine, California.
The results from nationals, as well as the Pan Pacific Championships being held in Australia later in August, will determine the US team for the 2015 world championships.
Phelps seems to be right on course the fly, finishing just 0.46 off the time that won the gold at the 2012 London Olympics. The only faster times this year were Thomas Dal’s 51.44 in the Belgian Open and Viacheslav Prudnikov’s 51.60 at the Russian national championships.
“I am very pleased with being able to go 51,” Phelps said. “But ... it’s just a small stepping stone to go where we hope to be.”
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