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Michael Phelps storms to 200m medley title

Michaels Phelps talks to the media after he competed in the…

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He is under supervised probation for 18 months and under orders from the judge who ruled in his case to abstain from alcohol for that period, something he has vowed to do until after the Rio Games.

Michael Phelps has posted the third-fastest qualifying time in preliminaries of the 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. national championships. “Next year is going to be Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier”.

Shortly after Michael Phelps clocked the world’s fastest 200m individual medley since 2012 on Sunday evening, after he raised an index finger in the air and slammed an arm into the pool, he turned his attention forward.

The 30-year-old continued his standout performances at the United States National Championships, clocking a time of one minute, 54.75 seconds in San Antonio.

Phelps goes off slowly and settles for the second-fastest time at 52.12 seconds.

“Ryan and I have been pretty dominant in that race since we started racing back in 2004,” Phelps was quoted as saying by bbc.co.uk. “I’m just going to let that” – taking a quick glance toward the scoreboard – “keep doing the talking”.

Le Clos was more outspoken. After posting the Number One times of the year in the 200m butterfly (1:52.94) on Friday and then the 100m butterfly (50.45) on Saturday, Phelps crushed the field in the 200m IM with 1:54.75.

“It’s a different event and I don’t really know how to swim that race”, he said, noting that he thinks he lost form and didn’t have much kick in the last 50 meters.

Le Clos punched the water in delight after his 100m victory – with father Bert celebrating wildly in the stands – in a virtual carbon copy of his 2013 triumph in Barcelona when Cseh settled for silver behind the South African. But I wont, ” Phelps said. “He can turn anything into motivation”. “It’s all about the position you get and whether you can get your hand on the wall first”, he said. Jack Conger is the top qualifier at 51.97. “That’s something I got back to, something I haven’t done in a while”.

“The way he raced that, that was really gutsy, because he is honestly still not in ideal shape for the last 50 [meters] of it, and he just gutted it out”, Bowman added. I haven’t done a best time since ’09.

“I’m pumped”, Phelps said. After that second DUI arrest, he underwent six weeks of inpatient therapy in Arizona, a stint that gave him a chance to re-examine his entire life.

His performance in the 200 fly showed that he’s capable of reclaiming his dominance in the pool. But the emotions of the swim — and what hes been through over the past year — were a bit overwhelming.

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“The times he swam the last few days put that level of swimming in play”, Bowman said.

Michael Phelps competes in the preliminary round of the men's 100-meter butterfly at the the U.S. swimming nationals Saturday Aug. 8 2015 in San Antonio Texas