By John Lohn<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE, Australia, March 26. THE fans at Rod Laver Arena will get their wish tomorrow night when the championship of the men's 200 freestyle goes off. It'll be Michael Phelps vs. Pieter van den Hoogenband. Heading into the competition, that matchup was one of the most anticipated and it's now less than 24 hours away.<\/p>\n
Nearly three years removed from taking silver and bronze behind Ian Thorpe at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, van den Hoogenband and Phelps will renew their rivalry with a world title on the line. Van den Hoogenband has never won a gold medal at the World Champs while Phelps has won 11, a record he shares with Thorpe.<\/p>\n
Swimming in the first semifinal, Phelps set the tone by winning his heat in 1:46.75. Phelps was in command the entire race, as was van den Hoogenband, who raced in the second semifinal. The Dutchman finished his race with the No. 1 qualifying mark of 1:46.33. That effort was made possible by a lightning-quick first half of 51.16, under world-record pace.<\/p>\n
"I wanted to get into the final. I felt smooth and comfortable," Phelps said. "I felt how I wanted to feel. I didn't push it too much underwater in the second half. But that's what I have to do tomorrow. The work underwater is going to be the key."<\/p>\n
The 200 free is the first individual event for Phelps this week. He's also scheduled to race both medley events and both butterfly disciplines. Taking the third position for the final was Italy's Massi Rosolino, a veteran who went 1:47.44, just ahead of the 1:47.45 of Aussie Kenrick Monk. Korea's Tae Hwan Park, the 400 free champion, was fifth in 1:47.83 and Zhang Lin of China was sixth in 1:48.29. Germany's Paul Biedermann (1:48.43) and Italy's Nicola Cassio (1:48.47) round out the field for the final.<\/p>\n