Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Anne Lepesant.
Michael Phelps of North Baltimore Aquatic Club rose to the challenge put forth by Chad Le Clos, after his gold-medal performance of 50.56 in the 100m butterfly at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, and posted yet another World-leading time, winning the U.S. National title in 50.45. That beat Le Clos’ winning time by .11.
Phelps was relatively slow off the blocks, but he made up for it with an incredible wall at the 50 and perhaps the best second-half of his career.
r 0.81 │ 24.10 / 26.35 = 50.45
Le Clos’ splits in Kazan, by comparison, were:
r 0.64 │ 23.72 / 26.84 = 50.56
After his win, Le Clos threw down the gauntlet, saying amongst other things, “Michael Phelps has been talking about how slow the butterfly events have been recently. I just did a time he hasn’t done in four years. So he can keep quiet now.”
I think we’d all really love it if USA Swimming would post the race, every final A-C has been posted EXCEPT the 100 fly. WE NEED TO SEE!!
For real – why haven’t they posted it?
I unsubscribed from USA Swimming YouTube Channel because of this. After hours and hours of waiting for the race to appear, I felt they let me down big time.
You can watch it on the live feed after the race…….
Not official, but here is a video…doesn’t show the whole field…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dANVKR5ztA
Thank you!
All respect to the man. There is a reason he is the GOAT. A large part of it has nothing to do with what he does in the water. My hats off to you, Michael.
You know, I think all the attention is being focused on the wrong guy here. Do anyone watch TRIPPPPPPPPPPP Cooper swim tonight? That man is incredible and I really think he’s going to be surprising some people next year in Rio. A definite gold medal contender for the 100 fly. To go a 52 right after he TRIPPPPPPPPed in the woods while hiking, 3 days out of the meet I might add, is very impressive. You watch for him. You heard it here first. I can already hear the crowd screaming “TRIPPPPPPP” after he shocks the world with a sub 50 point 100 fly next summer at trials.