Monday June 15, 2009
Phelps loses 100 freestyle at Santa Clara meet
SANTA CLARA, California: Michael Phelps was beaten in the 100-meter freestyle and 100 backstroke Sunday at the Santa Clara International Grand Prix swim meet.
The 14-time Olympic gold medalist finished second behind Brent Hayden of Canada in Sunday's night final. Hayden, the leading qualifier, touched in 48.44 seconds.
Phelps, swimming in lane 8, had 48.87.
Phelps lost the 100 back to Olympic teammate Ryan Lochte, who went out fast and held on in 54.15 to complete a sweep of the backstroke events.
Phelps touched second in 54.31.
Lochte relished the victory over his friend and rival.
"I always like to get a little kick in there," he said, smiling.
"Anyone is beatable. It's just a matter of time and where."
Phelps had two wins from four races in his second competition since returning from a three-month suspension by USA Swimming after a photo of him using a marijuana pipe surfaced.
He won the 200 butterfly on Friday and the 400 free Saturday.
"I'm ready to go home and sleep in my own bed," said Phelps, who arrived in Northern California direct from three weeks of altitude training in Colorado.
"For me, it's about seeing where we are and where we have to improve on. The wins are going to be more down the road."
Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe finished off a strong meet by winning the 200 backstroke with the world's fastest time this year.
She was timed in 2:06.99, a meet record, but well off her world mark of 2:05.24 that earned a gold medal in Beijing.
Coming up for Phelps is a final tuneup meet in Montreal next weekend before the U.S. national titles at Indianapolis on July 7-11.
That's where the team for the world championships in Rome will be selected.
"He always likes to win, but I think he made some progress in the 100 free and his time was pretty good in the 100 back," Phelps' coach Bob Bowman said.
"The headline tomorrow is 'Phelps loses twice,' but it's something he just has to live with."
Phelps set the American record of 47.51 in the 100 free as part of the victorious U.S. relay at the Beijing Olympics, where he won a record eight gold medals.
Hayden didn't advance out of the semifinals in Beijing.
"I wasn't on my game," he said. "I'm not holding any regrets."
Sunday's result was a reversal of their 2007 race in Santa Clara.
That's when Hayden led with 15 meters to go before Phelps sprinted past him to win.
"Anytime I get a chance to race Michael it's exciting," said Hayden, who will defend his title at next month's world meet in Rome.
"It would be awesome to see him in the 100 at world championships."
Hayden offered a bit of advice to Phelps, who is focusing on shorter distances in the push toward his last Olympics in 2012.
"He's not really much of a sprinter," Hayden said.
"Work on that front-end speed. Everyone knows he's got the fastest back-end of that race." - AP
Results Sunday from the Santa Clara Grand Prix:
Finals
Men
200 Breaststroke=
1, Brenton Rickard, Australia, 2 minutes, 10.37 seconds, meet record (old record, 2:10.62, Brendan Hansen, 2008). 2, Scott Dickens, Canada, 2:14.52. 3, John Criste, United Ststes, 2:15.35. 4, George Klein, UNited States, 2:15.54. 5, Scott Spann, United States, 2:16.65. 6, Michael Alexandrov, Bulgaria, 2:17.38. 7, Jeremy Meyer, Australia, 2:17.94. 8, Sean Mahoney, United States, 2:17.94. 9, Jack Brown, United States, 2:18.50.
100 Freestyle=
1, Brent Hayden, Canada, 48.44 seconds, meet record (old record, 48.98, Lyndon Ferns, Australia, 2008) . 2, Michael Phelps, United States, 48.87. 3, Nathan Adrian, United States, 48.94. 4, Ryan Lochte, United States, 49.18. 5, Matt Grevers, United States, 49.58. 6, David Walters, United States, 49.66. 7, Kenrick Monk, Australia, 50.00. 8, Ricky Berens, United States, 50.04. 9, Adam Brown, Britain, 50.66.
200 Individual Medley=
1, Brian Johns, Canada, 2:01.25. 2, Jack Brown, United States, 2:02.37. 3, Stephen Parkes, Australia, 2:03.90. 4, Robert Margalis, United States, 2:04.17. 5 (tie), Christopher Nuess, United States, and Todd Patrick, United States, 2:06.01. 7, Sam Ashby, Australia, 2:06.07. 8, Austen Thompson, United States, 2:06.81. 9, Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Australia, 2:06.86.
100 Backstroke=
1, Ryan Lochte, United States, 54.15. 2, Michael Phelps, United States, 54.31. 3, Ashley Delaney, Australia, 54.41. 4, Matt Grevers, United States, 54.96. 5, Guy Barnea, Israel, 55.65. 6, David Russell, United States, 55.98. 7, Pascal Wollach, Canada, 56.01. 8, Matt Hawes, Canada, 56.14. 9, Ben Hesen, United States, 56.43.
1,500 Freestyle=
1, Ryan Cochrane, Canada, 15:06.70. 2, Robert Hurley, Australia, 15:07.08. 3, Ryan Napoleon, Australia, 15:16.66. 4, Michael Klueh, United States, 15:24.92. 5, Christopher Ashwood, Australia, 15:26.44. 6, Sergiy Fesenko, Ukraine, 15:26.53. 7, Scott Korotkin, United States, 15:41.15. 8, David Mosko, United States, 15:43.65. 9, William Dove, United States, 15:52.91.
Women
200 Butterfly=
1, Mary DeScenza, United States, 2:08.78. 2, Kathleen Hersey, United States, 2:10.29. 3, Alyssa Anderson, United States, 2:10.36. 4, Tanya Hunks, Canada, 2:11.19. 5, Natalie Adams, United States, 2:11.33. 6, Elaine Breeden, United States, 2:11.50. 7, Andrea Taylor, United States, 2:12.35. 8, Alexandra Forrester, United States, 2:12.95. 9, Kailey Morris, United States, 2:14.13.
50 Freestyle=
1, Madison Kennedy, United States, 25.29. 2, Amanda Weir, United States, 25.33. 3, Julia Smit, United States, 25.43. 4, Samantha Woodward, United States, 25.53. 5, Marie-Pier Ratelle, Canada, 25.57. 6, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Bahamas, 25.71. 7 (tie), Lara Jackson, United States, and Jacqueline Vavrek, United States, 25.98. 9, Hannah Wilson, Hong Kong, 26.96.
200 Individual Medley=
1, Ariana Kukors, United States, 2:10.88, meet record (old record, 2:13.82, Caitlin Leverenz, 2007). 2, Julia Smit, United States, 2:12.36. 3, Stephanie Rice, Australia, 2:12.84. 4, Dagny Knutson, United States, 2:13.84. 5, Natalie Wiegersma, New Zealand, 2:14.00. 6, Caitlin Leverenz, United States, 2:14.70. 7, Whitney Myers, United States, 2:15.96. 8, Svetlana Karpeeva, Russia, 2:17.84. 9, Heather White, United States, 2:18.21.
200 Backstroke=
1, Kirsty Coventry, Zimbabwe, 2:06.99, meet record (old record, 2:11.01, Elizabeth Beisel, 2008). 2, Meagen Nay, Australia, 2:08.61. 3, Elizabeth Beisel, United States, 2:12.86. 4, Erin Campbell, United States, 2:13.85. 5, Katharine Riefenstahl, United States, 2:15.05. 6, Morgan Scroggy, United States, 2:15.21. 7, Genevieve Cantin, Canada, 2:15.49. 8, Madison White, United States, 2:15.79. 9, Katy Murdoch, Canada, 2:16.38.
800 Freestyle=
1, Katie Goldman, Australia, 8:34.81. 2, Amber McDermott, United States, 8:36.85. 3, Kelsey Ditto, United States, 8:37.19. 4, Savannah King, Canada, 8:42.84. 5, Catherine Breed, United States, 8:46.61. 6, Tanya Hunks, Canada, 8:46.72. 7, Margaret Bird, United States, 8:47.87. 8, Allison Schmitt, United States, 8:48.23. 9, Chelsea Nauta, United States, 8:48.66. - AP |
Post time 15-6-2009 10:49 PM
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