Michael Phelps: Overview of his performance at the 2011 World Championships – Part 2
America’s favourite, Phelps admitted that this series of defeats was the outcome of spending more time in the golf course rather than giving attention to his training schedule. Nevertheless, apart from his weakened performances in early 2011, North Baltimore’s
Phelps remained evident as one of the biggest hope of USA Swimming to sustain their standing among leading swimming nations.
There was a lot of confusion about Phelps’s participation plan at these world titles, as some said that he will keep the 200m butterfly off the grid, as this no longer remains his main event, while others stressed that he might be dropping the 200m freestyle
from his plan at Shanghai.
Conversely, Phelps thought of something else and the Olympic champion expressed his desire of skipping the 400m Individual Medley (IM) from his event list. Phelps’s participation at these world titles comprised of four individual events including the 200m
freestyle, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 200m IM and the three relay events of 4*100m freestyle, 4*200m freestyle and the 4*100m Medley relay.
No doubt that his involvement in such core events contributed greatly towards strengthening the hype of the World Championships, as everyone wanted to see him doing what he did at the 2008 Beijing event. After losing several main events, the American was
caught up in the hysteria whether he could repeat the old performances or not. Phelps’s fans wanted to see him shine again at the Shanghai podium, but swimming icons had a serious doubt on his potential to win gold medals in his individual events.
Finally, the day came where everyone could see Phelps participating in his first event on the initial day of Shanghai Championships, the Men’s 4*100m freestyle relay meet. The American team won the bronze medal behind the Australian and French squad, who
captured first and second position of the event, respectively. The Australian team, which included James Magnussen, Eamon Sullivan, Matthew Targett and Matthew Abood, was led by young national star, Magnussen.
The team pocketed the title of the swim in a phenomenal time of 3 minutes and 11.00 seconds and was only 0.14 seconds ahead of the French relay team that posted 3 minutes and 11.14 seconds for silver medal. The French squad comprised of Alain Bernard, Fabien
Gilot, William Meynard and Jeremy Stravius. The French team was chased by the American crew, which stayed 0.82 seconds slower than their competitors and accomplished the bronze medal in 3 minutes and 11.96 seconds.
USA’s team included Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Jason Lezak and Nathan Adrian, where Adrian was the fastest swimmer of the squad. Phelps was the first leg of USA’s freestyle relay team and he was also the second fastest swimmer of his team, as he completed
his two-lap swim in 48.08 seconds, while Adrian posted a top fastest time of 47.40 seconds.
The Beijing champion earned his first bronze of the championship on the first night of the event, while his effort was highly recognised by American fans. Though Phelps’ performance was not up to the standards he set in Beijing and at the 2009 Rome World
Championships, but with his admirable swim, he delivered a clear message that he might be in a position to overrule his events.
Continued in Part 3.
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