Michael Phelps to compete in the 2011 North Carolina Charlotte UltraSwim – Swimming news
American swimming legend Michael Phelps will participate in his swimming events at the ongoing 2011 North Carolina Charlotte UltraSwim.
Charlotte UltraSwim is the second last stop of the 2010-11 USA Grand Prix Series and it leads the way for the elite swimmers to warm themselves up for the 2011 Shanghai World Championships in July.
Phelps has claimed that he will participate in his main events at the Charlotte stop of the Grand Prix and will try to earn his titles once again.
Phelps, who is the champion of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, had a disappointing 2010. He demonstrated deteriorating swims at the two stops of the Grand Prix, Austin Grand Prix in January and the Eric Namesnik Michigan Grand Prix in April.
Phelps first lost his titles from his strongest rival, Ryan Lochte at the Austin stop. He failed to defend his titles of the 200m Individual Medley (IM) and the 400m IM and finished second behind Lochte.
After that, he tried to gear up his swims at the Indianapolis Grand Prix in March, where he conquered gold medals in the events of 200m IM, 400m IM, 200m butterfly and the 200m freestyle. The next month, at the Michigan Grand Prix, Phelps displayed the most
disappointing swim of his career in the 200m butterfly event. Phelps lost his title of the 200m butterfly for the first time in last decade.
The American legend was very upset with his performance. He said, “It was obviously frustrating, because [the streak] was something I wanted to keep going my entire career. I've used it as motivation.”
“To be honest, it's probably what I needed,” Phelps said. “I was playing with fire, and I got burnt pretty hard, and it was a fairly big one. It's better that it came at a Grand Prix meet than at a national championship or Olympics.”
Phelps has expressed a desire to compete in the 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly and the 200m backstroke at the Charlotte stop. He also said that he will make sure his fans enjoy his 200m butterfly swim at this stop of the Grand Prix, as he will be trying
to meet the expectations of his fans.
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