Mates keep Phelps' dreams alive as records keep tumbling (2nd Roundup)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Aug 12, 2008, 13:16 GMT

Beijing - Michael Phelps got another gold in world record time on Tuesday and later set the stage for Olympic immortality on Wednesday.

The American superswimmer won the men's 200m freestyle in world record time and then went on to equal the 200m butterfly Olympic record on a day in which two world records and three Olympic records were broken.

Phelps did not swim in the 4x200m relay heats in the evening session after having become the joint all-time greatest Olympian with nine gold medals in the morning session and needs just one more gold from five swims to become the all-time leading Olympian.

The others are Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, Finnish athlete Paavo Nurmi, US swimmer Mark Spitz and US athlete Carl Lewis.

Also on Tuesday, Aaron Peirsol set a world record in the men's 100m breaststroke, while Australian Leisel Jones set an Olympic record when she won the 100m breaststroke.

Four further Olympic records were also broken.

Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry swam an Olympic record in the semi- finals of the women's 200m individual medley in the morning session, while Paolo Bossini and Daniel Gyurta managed a record in the men's 200m butterfly and the US team swam a record in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay.

Phelps, 23, won the 200m freestyle in 1 minute 42.96 seconds, beating South Korean Park Tae-Hwan (1:44.85) and American Peter Vanderkaay (1:45.14) into second place.

The American beat his own world record of 1:43.86 that he established at the world championships in Melbourne last year.

'I wanted to try and get out into open water and I was in the outside lane so it was kind of difficult for the others to see me. I just wanted to get out there and try to hold on.

'I knew Park was going to have a good last 50 metres, so I tried to start as far ahead as I could in the first 100m to 150m,' Phelps said.

American Natalie Coughlin won the women's 100m backstroke, beating Coventry in a time of 58.96 seconds.

Coventry was well below her world record time of 58.77 from Monday in the semi-final with 59.19 for silver. The bronze medal went to American Margaret Holzer, who finished in 59.34.

In the men's 100m backstroke Peirsol broke the 10th world record of the competition as he won in a time of 52.54 seconds, beating the 52.89 he swam at the US trials in July.

The silver medal went to compatriot Matt Grevers with 53.11, while Russian Arkady Vyatchanin and Australian Hayden Stoeckel shared the bronze 0.07 seconds behind Grevers.

In the women's 100m backstroke Jones looked on course to break her own world record of 1:05.09, but fell just short, winning in a time of 1:05.17. American Rebecca Soni finished in a time of 1:06.73, while Austrian Mirna Jukic had 1:07.34.

Less than an hour after his world record swim Phelps equalled the Olympic record in the 100m butterfly event, winning his heat in a time of 1:53.70. He already swam that in the heats on Monday.

In the women's 200m individual medley, Coughlin and Coventry also swam less than an hour after winning their medals in the 100m backstroke.

Both qualified comfortably for Wednesday's final, with Coventry winning her heat in the new Olympic record time of 2:09.53, beating the eight-year old record of Ukrainian Yana Klochkova by 1.15 seconds.

In the first event of the session, the women's 200m freestyle, favourites Katie Hoff from the US and Italian Federica Pellegrini easily went through to the finals.

The best time, however, belonged to Slovenian Sara Isakovic, who swam a 1:56.50.

The stand-out performance during the evening heats was the the US relay team's Olympic record, achieved with their reserve team.

Swimming without Phelps, the US won their heat in the Beijing Water Cube in an Olympic record 7:04.66 seconds, beating the 7:07.05 swum by Australia in 2000.

Britain (7:07.89) and Australia (7:08.41) followed in second and third place. The three teams will be joined by South Africa, Italy, Russia, Canada and Japan in Wednesday's final.

In the men's 100m freestyle heats, Australian Eamon Sullivan, who swam a world record 47.24 in Monday's 4x100m freestyle relay, in which the Australians finished third, posted the fastest time in 47.80 to advance to the semi-finals.

In the women's 200m butterfly, local favourite Liu Zige had the near-capacity crowd in the 11,000-seater Water Cube excited when she was on course for Jessicah Schipper's world record time of 2:05.40 set in Canada two years ago. But the Chinese swimmer dropped some time at the end and made the final in 2:06.46.

In the final individual event, the men's 200m breaststroke, Hungarian Daniel Gyurta bettered Kosuke Kitajima's Olympic record of 2:09.44, which the Japanese swimmer set in Athens, to 2:08.68 minutes.

Earlier, Paolo Bossini of Italy swam 2:08.98. Also through to the semis was American Eric Shanteau, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer.