World Championships: Morning Stroll Gives Michael Phelps Top Prelim Time in 200 Fly

By John Lohn

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 26. HIS showdown with Pieter van den Hoogenband in the 200 freestyle scheduled for the night, Michael Phelps took it easy in the preliminaries of the 200 butterfly. Still, Phelps remained impressive in the event that placed him on the international map, qualifying first in 1:55.78. He was followed by American teammate Davis Tarwater, who touched in 1:56.63.

Phelps' evening will begin with the 200 freestyle final and will conclude with the semifinals of the 200 fly, where he'll have no trouble moving into the championship race. Phelps and Tarwater train together under Bob Bowman at Club Wolverine and the fact that Tarwater put up a solid time in the morning was a positive sign for his medal hopes.

Ryuichi Shibata, pushing the front end of his race, was third in qualifying in 1:56.81 and Greece's Ioannis Drymonakos was also under 1:57, going 1:56.93. Japan's Takeshi Matsuda was fifth in 1:57.10 and defending champion Pawel Korzeniowski (Poland) was sixth in 1:57.11. When Korzeniowski won his gold in Montreal two years ago, he didn't have to face Phelps.

Click Here to view event results PDF file.

Check back for an updated story on this event as our team of Senior Writer John Lohn and CEO Brent Rutemiller, on the scene at Rod Laver Arena, provide in-depth coverage, along with radio and TV segments.

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