IRVINE, United States: Olympic great Michael Phelps suffered the first big setback of his return to competition on Wednesday as a poor turn left him seventh in the 100-metre free at the US Swimming Championships.
In a finals field loaded with Olympic medallists, the 18-time Games champion made a mess of his turn at the 50-metre wall, and had no chance to challenge coming home in the race won by 2012 Olympic gold medallist Nathan Adrian.
“When I literally took a couple kicks and I barely passed the flags, I knew there was very little chance that I was going to run anybody down,” Phelps said.
“It just kind of stinks that I missed the first wall.”
Phelps ended a near two-year retirement in April, and the US championships are just his fourth meet since then and his first chance to qualify to represent the United States at an international event — the Pan Pacific Championships August 21-25 in Gold Coast, Australia.
He is slated to swim the 100-metre butterfly on Friday — the event he has raced the most since his return — and the 100-metre backstroke and 200-metre individual medley on Saturday and Sunday.
“I’m just trying to get a spot on the team and go from there,” Phelps said. “I am ready to have a day off and get ready for the 100 fly.”
The top four 100-metre free finishers earned PanPacs berths, and results from these championships and the meet in Australia will determine the US team for the 2015 World Championships in Russia.
Adrian won in 48.31sec. Ryan Lochte, whose own collection of 11 Olympic medals includes five golds, stormed to second from lane eight in 48.96.
Jimmy Feigen was third in 48.98 and Conor Dwyer was fourth in 49.06. Phelps clocked 49.17.
“I’m pretty sure he just straight up missed the wall,” Adrian said of Phelps, whose epic Olympic campaigns never included the individual 100-metre free but who has been a key part of American 4x100-metre free relay teams.
“I said ‘Hey, good thing you’re the best swimmer of all time, you’re going to make the team anyway,” Adrian added of his post-race chat with Phelps.
Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman said there were some encouraging signs in Phelps’ performance on Wednesday night.
“I think we both felt good because he actually swam well tonight,” Bowman said. “He looked good in warm-up. This morning he looked terrible.”
Franklin strikes
Missy Franklin, who followed up her four-gold performance at the London Olympics by winning a record six golds at the 2013 World Championships, used a late surge to win the women’s 100-metre freestyle in 53.43.
Franklin powered past halfway leader Simone Manuel, who settled for silver in 53.66 — unable to match the career-best 53.60 she posted in the morning.
Shannon Vreeland was third in 54.14 and Abbey Weitzeil fourth in 54.38.
“I knew that Simone was right next to me and she always goes out so fast,” Franklin said. “I knew I was going to have to come home hard and I just tried to put my head down.”
Natalie Coughlin, owner of 12 Olympic medals, faded on the final lap and finished seventh.
While the top four finishers in the 100 and 200-metre freestyles earn PanPacs berths, only the winners of Wednesday’s remaining events were assured of spots.
World record-holder Katie Ledecky duly punched her ticket with a victory in the 800-metre freestyle in 8:18.47. The 17-year-old was well off the world mark of 8:11.00 she set on June 23, but easily outpaced runner-up Cierra Runge (8:24.69).
Tom Shields led from start to finish to win the men’s 200-metre butterfly in 1:55.09 — third-fastest time in the world this year.
He held off a late charge by Olympic backstroke gold medallist Tyler Clary, who finished second in 1:56.00 with Chase Kalisz third in 1:56.50.
Cammile Adams won her third straight national title in the 200-metre butterfly in 2:07.12 and Connor Jaeger won the men’s 1,500-metre free in 14:51.06.
