Indianapolis (Indiana), July 10: Michael Phelps broke the 100m butterfly world record, evidence that his post-Olympic transition is right on track.
Phelps, winner of eight gold medals at the Beijing Games last August, won in 50.22sec, slicing 18-hundredths of a second off the previous record of 50.40 set by compatriot Ian Crocker at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal.
“It was big,” Phelps said of the achievement. “This is something I really wanted to accomplish.”
Yesterday’s performance took Phelps’s current tally of individual world records to five, to go with three relay world records.
Since 2001, when he set his first world record in the 200m butterfly, Phelps has set at least one world record in all but one year – 2005.
–PTI