Michael Phelps: Overview of his performance at the 2011 World Championships – Part 10
After his gruelling efforts in the 100m butterfly semi-final, Phelps needed to dominate the event just one more time to pocket his third gold medal of the World Championships.
On the seventh day of the event, Phelps once again proved his supremacy in the butterfly discipline and captured the title of Men’s 100m butterfly by submitting a remarkable time of 50.71 seconds. His effort was 0.89 seconds slower than his world mark of
49.82 seconds, set by Phelps at the 2009 Rome World Championships.
Nevertheless, the American was 0.44 seconds ahead of his following competitor, Konrad Czerniak of Poland, who sustained his second qualification and reached the podium for silver medal by touching the wall in 51.15 seconds. The silver medallist was trailed
by Phelps’s team-member, Tyler McGill, who also maintained his third fastest seat and clocked a time of 51.26 seconds for the bronze medal. The crowd went wild with the commendable effort of Phelps, who pocketed his third gold medal of the championship.
Meanwhile, Phelps was scheduled to take part in his final event, the Men’s 4*100m Medley relay on the second last day of the Shanghai titles. Due to his 100m butterfly final, Phelps preferred to not compete in the 100m medley relay event. Therefore, USA's
relay squad included David Plummer, Eric Shanteau, Tyler McGill and Garrett Weber-Gale, where McGill was the competing in place of Phelps.
The team won the preliminary round of the event by reporting a time of 3 minutes and 32.42 seconds. They were followed by relay teams of Germany and Netherlands, who acquired second and third fastest spots, with timings of 3:33.69 and 3:34.59 minutes, respectively.
Subsequently, on the last day of the World Championships, America's team claimed the gold medal of the event by reporting in a stupendous time of 3 minutes and 32.06 seconds. The gold winning squad included the efforts of Nicholas Thoman, Mark Gangloff,
Michael Phelps and Nathan Adrian.
With his fastest back-stroke leg, Thoman contributed greatly towards providing a lead to USA's team, as he completed his swim in 53.61 seconds. The race was continued by Gangloff, who ended his breast-stroke swim in a time of 1 minute and 00.24 seconds,
to post 1:53.85 minutes on the board. Phelps swam the butterfly leg and produced a time of 50.57 seconds to post 2 minutes and 44.42 seconds. Adrian then sprinted his way in the freestyle swim with a time of 47.64 seconds to conclude the race in 3:32.06 minutes.
USA was chased by Australia's team, which remained only 0.20 seconds behind and occupied the silver medal of the event with a fighting timing of 3 minutes and 32.26 seconds. The third spot on the podium was secured by Germany, whose swimmers remained just
0.34 seconds slower than the Australian team and stepped on the podium for bronze medal, by clocking a time of 3 minutes and 32.60 seconds.
Phelps was extremely happy with his fourth gold medal of the world titles. In addition, the session concluded after the laudable efforts of all participating teams, whereas, the arena cheered for praiseworthy swims of American champion, Phelps, who showered
his supremacy in seven events during the World Championships.
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