By John Lohn and Dana Lawrence Lohn
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, August 3. A little more than four months after he took down Ian Thorpe's world record in the 200 freestyle with a clocking of 1:43.86, Michael Phelps made a run at his mark en route to the 35th national title of his career. Phelps, just .01 over world-record pace at the 100-meter mark, finished in a U.S. Open-record time of 1:44.98. It was the eighth-fastest time in history.
Phelps shot to the lead off the start, hitting the 50-meter mark in 24.69 and turning at the midway point in 51.01. Phelps toured 150 meters in 1:18.20 and held it together down the stretch to fend off his Club Wolverine training partner, Peter Vanderkaay. Thanks to a splendid performance of 1:45.45, Vanderkaay became the fourth-fastest performer of all-time. Only Phelps, Thorpe (1:44.06) and Pieter van den Hoogenband (1:44.89) have been quicker than Vanderkaay.
For Phelps, it was his third title of the meet, joining his crowns in the 200 backstroke and 100 butterfly. Vanderkaay has been having a spectacular meet, as he won the 400 free on Thursday night ahead of Larsen Jensen and Phelps. Meanwhile, he posted a personal-best time in the 100 freestyle. Without a doubt, Vanderkaay has positioned himself as a top contender for an individual Olympic medal next year in Beijing.
The normally-reserved Vanderkaay was clearly delighted, providing an enthusiastic take on his result. "It was an awesome race for me – I feel it all coming together. I did a lot of strength training for this race, and [in the last 50] I buried my head and hit the wall … this has been a real breakout meet for me, and if I stick with the plan I can go even faster."
Grabbing the bronze medal was Australia's Kenrick Monk, a 19-year-old rising star who was timed in 1:47.40. Monk finished ahead of Jayme Cramer (Southeastern), who checked in at the wall with a mark of 1:47.51, a personal best. David Walters (Longhorn), the winner of the 100 free, was fifth in 1:47.93. Ricky Berens (Longhorn) won the consolation final in 1:48.42.
Click here to view event results PDF file.
