Phelps goes out a winner at home
OMAHA, Neb. — Michael Phelps wasn’t about to lose his last race in the United States.
With his gangly arms cutting through the water, Phelps dazzled the home fans one last time.
Phelps made it three-forthree at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, rallying on the return lap to win the 100-meter butterfly Saturday night.
In what was billed as the farewell race in his home country, Phelps competed in lane seven after a sluggish swim in the semifinals. Asusual, it took him a lap to really get going, making the turn in fourth place.
But Phelps powered to the front, as he has done so many times.
Even with a long glide to the wall, he finished in 51.00 seconds.
WhenPhelps saw the “1” beside his name, he pounded the water and pointed toward his family — including 7-week-old son Boomer — up in the stands. He’ll now get a chance to win his fourth straight gold in the 100 fly at Rio.
When his longtime coach, Bob Bowman, asked for a game plan before the race, Phelps kept it simple.
“I don’t want to lose my last race on American soil,” he said.
Katie Ledecky and Maya DiRado also won their third individual events on the next-to-last night of the trials, while Nathan Adrian made up for the disappointment of four years ago by winning the 50 freestyle.
For Ledecky, it has been the dominating performance everyone expected, this one a nearly 10-second victory in the 800 freestyle.
For DiRado, it has been a huge surprise, the first-time Olympian setting herself up to make quite a splash before she retires at age 23.
A late bloomer who already lined up a job as a business analyst in Atlanta, she followed her victories in the 200 and 400 individual medley by knocking off defending Olympic champion Missy Franklin in the 200 backstroke.
Franklin finished second to at least ensure she’ll get a chance to go for another gold in Rio.
Phelps, of course, is also planning to retire — for the second time — as soon as his fifth Olympics are over. At age 31, he cruised through Omahawith victories in both butterfly races as well as the 200 individual medley.
Assuming he is on all three men’s relays in Rio, a virtual lock, he’ll get a chance to add six more medals to his already massive collection of 18 golds and 22 medals overall.
“We did everything that we wanted to do,” Phelps said.
One night after competing in the 100 free, the 19-year-old Ledecky didn’t have quite enough in the tank to challenge her own world record. She finished in 8 minutes, 10.32 seconds, far off the mark of 8:06.68 she set in January at a meet in Austin.
The swimmer who surprisingly captured gold in the 800 free four years ago will go into Rio as one of the biggest favorites in any sport.
Ledecky also posted Omaha wins in the 200 and 400 free, which means she’ll have three individual events and a relay at the Olympics. The only thing that didn’t go her way: a seventh-place finish in the 100 free, an event she only recently started focusing on in hopes of landing a second relay race.
DiRado was nearly a body length ahead of Franklin in the 200 back with a winning time of 2:06.90.
Franklin, a big disappointment at the trials but still set to swim three events in Rio, finished in 2:07.89 to hold off Lisa Bratton for the second berth.
Sugar Land’s Simone Manuel won her 50 freestyle semifinal in 24.58 seconds to advance to Sunday’s final along with fastest-qualifier Abbey Weitzeil (24.34), Madison Kennedy, Katrina Konopka, Olivia Smoliga, Lia Neal, Dana Vollmer and Amanda Weir.