He had to settle for competing in the U.S. nationals after being removed for the U.S. world championship team as part of his punishment for a second drunken-driving arrest.
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According to Bleacher Report, Phelps blew away the competition in the men’s 200-meter butterfly event, finishing with a time of one minute and 52.94 seconds.
“I let what I do in the pool do all my talking and that’s how I’ve always done things.”
A year out, his stroke is coming into form, and he’s the most focused and driven he has been since he won eight gold medals in Beijing. So he came to San Antonio and posted a time that would have been good enough for gold in Kazan, Russia.
“…anything is possible”, Phelps said, addressing reporters after his swim Friday.
I dont know how many times Ive gone 1:55 low in the morning..
The comments were interesting, Phelps said, with a knowing grin.
He can turn anything into motivation..
Phelps shot back, pointing out that Le Clos actually had the faster time on his first lap of the 100 fly.
“I was a little slow getting up this morning”.
As so often in his storied career, Phelps found the trash talking merely motivational.
Nothing really exciting about it, he added. “But I won’t”, Phelps said. Thats something Ive got to fix for tonight.
“I have not been that fast in a really long time”, Phelps said.
Dont talk trash to Michael Phelps. Also, he took a break from training after his DUI arrest, going through six weeks of inpatient therapy in Arizona.
“The last three days that’s all I thought about, really”.
The runnerup to Phelps in the 200 fly a night earlier, Conger zoomed to a time of 51.33, tied for eighth in the world rankings. “I have to be able to balance the energy a little bit better than I did”.
Asked his goal for the 100 fly final, he pointed to Le Clos’ winning time in Kazan.
Faster than them, Phelps said, smiling. The World Champs, though, have brought about a change, with Le Clos, Hungarian Laszlo Cseh and Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, among others, elevating the fly events to more impressive levels.
“I’m just happy that I got to show everybody that it didn’t make a difference if I lost the win in the 200m fly – I was going to come back strong”.
After claiming gold in Russian Federation, Le Clos – who has been involved in a slanging match with Phelps over the past few months – claimed his American rival could “keep quiet now” but the Olympic Games legend responded perfectly in the water.
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“It was mixed emotions when I touched the wall, it had been on my mind the whole time since Wednesday and I was obviously both delighted and relieved with the win”.
