BARCELONA, Spain, 25 July 2003 — American teen Michael Phelps moved into the starring role at the world swimming championships here yesterday when he smashed his own 200m individual medley world record, as the bubble burst for Australian superstar Ian Thorpe.
Thorpe had to settle for bronze for the first time in an individual race since he became the youngest world champion, aged 15, in 1998 by winning the 400m freestyle.
The 11-time world champion came third in the 100m freestyle behind Russian sprint legend Alexander Popov who became the first swimmer to win three world titles in the event.
Phelps then dived in for the 200m medley semifinals and clocked 1:57.52 to smash the previous mark of 1:57.94 he achieved in Santa Clara last June when he broke Jani Sievinen’s nine-year-old record, the oldest in men’s swimming.
And the 18-year-old warned there was more to come.
“I went out to get a world record and I did, even though I didn’t feel good and hadn’t slept,” said Phelps. “I’m going to rest now and try and beat the world record once again tomorrow.”
It is the second world record here for the American who broke his own 200m butterfly mark on his way to successfully defending that title. He also holds the record for the 400m medley.
Thorpe qualified fifth fastest for today’s 200m individual medley final in 2:00.42.
But the 20-year-old remained upbeat about his bronze.
“I’ve been working very hard on my speed and it is certainly coming,” said Thorpe, who was competing over 100m for the first time at the worlds.
“This is my first major medal at this level in this event and I’m very happy with that.”
Thorpe, 20, has already claimed three golds here - winning a record third straight 400m title, successfully defending his 200m title, and anchoring the Australian team to a third straight 4x200m relay title.
But his dream of matching his six gold at the last championships is now definitively over.
The 31-year-old Popov reclaimed the title he last won in 1998, in a time of 48.42 with Olympic champion and world record holder Pieter Van Den Hoogenband taking silver in 48.68 with Thorpe in 48.77.
“Am I surprised about beating the youngsters? Yes and no,” was all Popov would say.
European champion Van den Hoogenband, 25, had to settle for silver for the second time.
“I did my best and that’s all I could do,” said the Dutchman. “Popov beat me in a direct duel and I can live with that. It motivates me to try and beat him next time.”
It was the second gold here for Popov, twice Olympic champion over both 50m and 100m freestyle, who anchored the Russian team to gold in the 4x100m relay after 12 years chasing chasing that title.
Earlier Japanese ace Kosuke Kitajima clinched his second world record and second gold medal with a stunning victory in the 200m breaststroke.
Kitajima, who became the first world champion from Japan by winning the 100m breaststroke in a world record time earlier in the week, clocked 2:09.42 to reclaim the record from Dmitri Komornikov of Russia, who set the previous mark of 2:09.52 here in Barcelona just last month.
Britain’s Ian Edmond took silver in 2:10.92 with the bronze going to Brendan Hansen of the United Staes in 2:11.11.
It is the second time that the 20-year-old Kitajima has broken the 200m breaststroke mark - the first came at the Asian Games in Busan last year when he smashed Mike Barrowman’s previous best which had stood for ten years.
The United States won the women’s 4x200m relay title for the first time with their team of Lindsay Benko, Rachel Komisarz, Rhiannon Jeffrey and Diana Munz.
They had looked to be on their way to breaking the 16-year world record until the final 50m when Munz finished just outside in 7:55.70.
Australia took silver in 7:58.42 with the bronze going to China in 7:58.53, and defending champions Britain in fourth.
Earlier, European champion Nina Zhivanevskaya gave Spain their first ever women’s world gold by winning the 50m backstroke title.
The 26-year-old from Malaga timed 28.48sec to come in ahead of Ilona Hlavackova of the Czech Republic in 28.50 with Japan’s Noriko Inada taking bronze in 28.62.
