Streamlined News

PHOENIX, Arizona, October 19. MICHAEL Phelps found himself off the podium in the men’s 100 fly in the Moscow World Cup meet today.

Phelps had trouble on his first turn and couldn’t recover from it, with short course world record holder Evgeny Korotyshkin taking the win in 50.72 over Tyler McGill and Milorad Cavic. Chad Le Clos was fourth and Phelps was fifth.

Earlier in the day, Phelps raced his old nemesis Paul Biedermann in the 200 free, and it was Biedermann who got to the wall first, by 16-hundredths of a second. But Phelps would get his gold medal today, in the 200 backstroke, where he used a strong final 50 meters to pass three people, one of whom was national youth team member Jacob Pebley. Pebley was in medal contention throughout the race but finished in fourth place.

Missy Franklin ended her meet with two more wins in the 100 free and 100 back. Franklin’s time in the 100 free was just a second off Natalie Coughlin’s American record and is the second-fastest time in the world so far.

Le Clos asserted his lead in the FINA World Cup overall standings with a win in the 200 IM over Hidemasa Sano. Le Clos has won $18,500, with four meets remaining on the World Cup schedule. The next stop is Berlin, and that meet begins Saturday.

Over in Mexico, Brett and Shaune Fraser went 1-2 in the 200 free at the Pan American Games to not only keep the United States and Brazil off the medal podium for the first time this meet, but mark the first gold for the Cayman Islands in swimming at the Pan Am Games. Altitude may have played a factor in the relatively slow winning time of 1:47.18, but the Frasers are likely enjoying the moment.

Julia Smit made history as well, becoming the first person to win the 200 and 400 IMs at two consecutive Pan American Games. Smit won the 200 IM today in 2:13.73.
Arthur Frayler, just 17 years old, took the lead over teammate Ryan Feeley at the 1200 mark of the 1500 free and won his first major international gold medal in a time of 15:19.59. Feeley was second in 15.22.19. Frayler has more work to do at Pan Ams; he’ll swim the 10K on Saturday.

The American duo of Sean Mahoney and Clark Burckle posted another 1-2, this time in the 200 breast. Mahoney’s win comes about a year after serving a six-month doping suspension for testing positive for a banned stimulant.

Over in China, Wang Shun is becoming a force in the 200 freestyle. Today at the China National City Games, Wang posted a 1:46.14 to move into the top 10 of the long course world rankings for 2011. That makes him the second-fastest in the event in China behind Sun Yang, and boosts that country’s Olympic medal hopes in the 800 freestyle relay.

Also of note at the meet was the 1:00.27 in the women’s 100 back by Fuyuan Hui. Fuyuan is only 15 years old, a sign of things to come for the youngster, maybe in time for next year’s Olympics. And 200 IM world champion Ye Shiwen did just what she needed to do to advance to tomorrow’s final of the 200 IM, posting a 2:14.47 in semis. After her great performance in the 400 IM, could we see Ye improve on her 2:08.09 from worlds? We’ll find out tomorrow.

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