LONDON – Michael Phelps looked terrible Saturday in the 400 IM, very good Sunday in the 4 x 100 relay - and good enough this morning in h...
He finished third in his heat, and fifth overall, to cruise into Monday night's semifinals.
"I was pretty happy with that this morning," Phelps said. "That's all I needed to do, basically."
Phelps has bigger ambitions for Tuesday's 200 fly finals, when he'd have a chance to be the first man to win a swim event at three consecutive Olympics. He had that chance on the pool's opening night in the 400 IM, but came fourth, out of the medals.
Did it help him this morning to swim the 200 fly, one of his signature events? "I don't know," he said. "I think just getting last night sort of out of the way is something that I needed."
Phelps was speaking of the relay, in which he swam the Americans' best time of the night in the second leg. "I guess we got to bed pretty late last night," he said. "I think we're all falling asleep pretty late."
So what happened in the 400 IM? Could it have been a crisis of confidence?
"No," Phelps said. "I had no idea what it was, but I don't think it had anything to do with confidence. I felt I was ready to swim faster than that and once I got in the race, it just didn't happen."
If Phelps finishes in the top eight in Monday night's semifinals, he'll have his chance at that three-peat. It has happened just twice in Olympic history, both times on the women's side, with Australian Dawn Fraser and Hungarian Krisztina Egerszegi.
Japan's Kosuke Kitajima had a three-peat chance in the men's 100-meter breaststroke Sunday night but, like Phelps in the 400 IM, finished out of the medals, fifth in his case.
Phelps has more history in his sights: His next medal would tie him with Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina as history's most decorated Olympian with 18 medals.
Austria's Dinko Jukic qualified first for Monday night's semifinal and the USA's Tyler Clary qualified second.
"I'm super, super excited for tonight," Clary said. "Historically, I usually go faster in the evenings. I felt like there was more there, so we'll see what happens."
Phelps has won the 200 fly at every Olympics and world championships since 2001, except the 2005 worlds, in which he didn't swim it.
In the women's 200 freestyle prelims, Missy "The Missile" Franklin qualified third in 1:57.62, setting herself up for a busy Monday night. She will swim her 200 free semifinal Monday at 7:30 p.m. London time (2:30 p.m. ET) and then compete in the women's 100 backstroke final less than 20 minutes later.
"It's definitely going to be fun tonight," Franklin said. "I need to keep my energy up as much as possible and just do the best that I can do.
"It's going to be tough, for sure."
U.S. teammate Allison Schmitt was second in the 200 freestyle prelims in 1:57.33. Italy's Federica Pellegrini had the fastest time in 1:57.16.
Franklin, 17, is expected to win her first individual Olympic medal in the 100 back. She won bronze as a part of the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay team Saturday night.
Franklin's Olympic program includes seven events, including the 200 back and the 100 free. The phenom from Denver is among the favorites in every event in which she's entered in these Olympics.
"Here, I haven't really been that nervous," she said. "I've been able to stay really relaxed and really confident."
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