Michael Phelps: Overview of his performance at the 2011 World Championships – Part 6
After a phenomenal effort of attaining the third fastest qualification into the final rounds, everyone in the aquatic arena had their eyes on the American champion, Phelps, as they wanted to see him defend his title of the butterfly swim with great impudence.
Finally, on the day of the competition, the arena’s beloved Phelps looked predictably strong from the starting blocks. Phelps demonstrated his astonishing skills in the final of the four-lap butterfly discipline and clinched the title of his favourite event
in a time of 1 minute and 53.34 seconds. His stupendous effort was nearly two seconds ahead of his own world mark of 1 minute and 51.51 seconds.
The gold medallist was chased by Takeshi Matsuda of Japan, who earned the fastest qualification seat in the semi-final, as he failed to defend his position and posted a second fastest time of 1 minute and 54.01 seconds. Meanwhile, North Baltimore’s Phelps
was trailed by Peng, who remained 1.33 seconds behind him and reached the podium for bronze medal with a timing of 1 minute and 54.67 seconds.
The 26-year-old expressed contentment over his astonishing victory, as he regained the title of his main event after losing it several times in a row from Wu Peng. In addition, the arena went wild with Phelps’s effort, as this was his first gold medal of
the championship.
On the same day, Phelps took part in the preliminary rounds of the 200m Individual Medley (IM), where he faced his strongest rival and world record holder, Ryan Lochte. The event was expected to be one of the most gruelling swims of the World Championships,
and the crowd also wanted to see an immense battle between the top-two contenders.
In the qualifying rounds of the event, Thiago Pereira of Brazil emerged as the top contender for the gold medal by dominating the prelims with a time of 1 minute and 57.82 seconds. Pereira was trailed by David Verraszto of Hungary and Kenneth To of Australia,
who earned second and third finest qualification spots, with marvellous timings of 1:58.69 and 1:59.02 minutes, respectively.
In the meantime, the world record holder, Lochte claimed fourth fastest spot of the swim as he clocked a nice time of 1:59.04 seconds. Subsequently, Phelps occupied eight qualification spot, as he submitted a time of 1 minute and 59.48 seconds to enter the
semi-finals.
The eighth fastest effort was not what it takes to assure a podium finish in the final of the event but with Lochte’s fourth best qualification time, Phelps’s supporters were hopeful that their favourite star would reach the podium in the final of the IM
event.
Everyone wanted to see Phelps surface as one of the top qualifying swimmers into the final rounds, but in the presence of his strong competitors and with the eight fastest spot in the initial round, the task seemed quite unachievable.
The session concluded after the completion of all events, while the semi-final was scheduled to take place in the second session on the same day.
Continued in Part 7
Tags: