SANTA CLARA – Six weeks before the U.S. Olympic Trials, Michael Phelps is feeling uncomfortable in his signature event.
Phelps won the 400 individual medley at the Santa Clara Grand Prix on Friday, but was far from his dominant self, finishing in 4 minutes, 13.47 seconds.
That's nearly 7 seconds slower than Phelps' world record time, something the reigning Olympic and world champion blamed on the backstroke leg.
“My backstroke has just been horrible over the last few meets and it's something that I have to have to be a decent IM'r in this world,” Phelps said. “That's something I really need to improve on over the next few weeks before we go to trials. If I don't I'm going to continue to be unsatisfied.”
Phelps built a sizable early lead and held a 3-second lead over Robert Margalis halfway through. But Margalis closed the gap considerably and pushed Phelps to the end, finishing in 4:15.05.
“My tempo's not good. My kick isn't there,” Phelps said. “The biggest thing that's wrong with it is the tempo is so slow. I feel like I'm swimming a mile backstroke. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's mental, physical or whatever ... but something's not going well. Something has to change.”
Bob Bowman, Phelps' longtime coach, didn't seem too concerned and said Phelps needs only to focus more.
“When the coach asks you to pick it up, do it instead of thinking maybe you don't need to,” Bowman said. “It's not really slacking off. It's just one of those things that didn't really seem like a big deal until now and now it seems like a little bigger deal.”
Earlier, Natalie Coughlin broke her own American record in the women's 100 freestyle despite finishing second.
Coughlin's time of 53.39 seconds bettered her previous record of 53.40 set March 2, 2007. Australia's Cate Campbell, 15, won in 53.30 to set a U.S. Open record.
“I'll take an American record ... I'm not upset by that at all,” said Coughlin, a bronze medalist in the event at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
“Anytime I get a best time at something it's really exciting, especially at midseason. I felt really good this morning and I felt strong in practice so my coach (Teri McKeever) told me that I needed to break my record.
“I knew it was going to be a good time. I didn't know it was going to be best time.”
Coughlin had won the event seven straight years before losing to Campbell, a member of the Australian Olympic team.
Racing in the lane next to Campbell, Coughlin led early and appeared to increase her edge coming off the wall for the final turn. But Campbell, who will celebrate her 16th birthday on Tuesday, closed strong and reached the finish just before Coughlin.
“She was here last year but she's much, much faster this year,” Coughlin said of Campbell. “I knew she was going to swim fast. I could tell this morning (in prelims) that she was holding back a little bit.”
Brendan Hansen, a bronze medalist in the 100 breaststroke at the 2004 Olympics, won in 1:00.01. Other winners include Peter Vanderkaay in the 200 free (1:46.24) who broke Phelps' three-year-old meet record, Bronte Barratt in the women's 400 free (4:04.57), and Davis Tarwater in the men's 200 fly (1:55.93). Barratt and Tarwater both set meet records.
Three-time Olympian Amanda Beard placed second in the 200 breaststroke, one of three events the 26-year-old is entered in.
Beard's time of 2:28.15 was her fastest of the year but second to Japan's Izumi Kato, who finished in 2:27.69.
“A 2.28's good but it's not where I need to be and where I should be,” Beard said. “I'm happy with that right now but at Trials a 2.28's not going to cut it. I'm hoping with more work and then taper, that I'll be down around at least a 2.23.”
