Phelps begins in record style

2008-08-09 17:00

Beijing - Michael Phelps made an impressive start to his bid for Olympic immortality Saturday, posting a Games record in the heats of the men's 400m individual medley to kick off nine days of swimming competition.

Phelps, who established the previous Olympic record in winning gold in Athens four years ago, clocked 4:07.82 - the fourth-fastest time ever.

It was a deceptively smooth performance from the man who lowered his world record in the event to 4:05.25 at the US trials in June, showing that the months of scrutiny leading into the Games haven't taken a toll.

"Just the first-race jitters," a phlegmatic Phelps said of his pre-race butterflies. "But getting that first race under your belt feels really good.

"I didn't think I'd swim that fast in the preliminaries. I saw the first few heats go out, and I kind of wanted to be the top seed for tomorrow, that is all I went out to do."

Phelps, under his world record pace after both the butterfly and backstroke legs, eased off but easily won his heat before a near-capacity crowd at Beijing's Water Cube aquatic centre.

The 23-year-old American, who is gunning for compatriot Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at one Games, was never challenged, with Italian Luca Marin second-fastest in his heat in 4:10.22.

Hungarian Laszlo Cseh, who set the European record at a meeting in France in June, was the second-fastest qualifier for Sunday morning's final, winning his heat in 4:09.26.

Marin was third-fastest overall and American Ryan Lochte was fourth-fastest, winning his heat in 4:10.33.

Cseh said the times promised an explosive final.

"I think if someone wants to win this race they are going to have to swim under 4 minutes 05 seconds," he said.

Lochte said it would take nothing less than "the perfect race" to deny Phelps a first gold of the Beijing games.

Hungarian Gergo Kis, Italy's Alessio Boggiatto, Canadian Brian Johns and Brazilian Thiago Pereira rounded out the field for the final that could set Phelps on his path to glory.

Norway's European champion Alexander Dale Oen posted an Olympic record of 59.41 seconds to lead the way into the semi-finals of the men's 100m breaststroke, upstaging defending Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima of Japan and world record-holder Brendan Hansen of the United States.

Kitajima was second-fastest, winning his heat in 59.52, while a reserved Hansen shared the 10th-fastest time of the night of 1:00.36.

American Larsen Jensen led the way into the final of the men's 400m freestyle, clocking 3:43.10 to lead a field separated by just 1.7 seconds.

China's Zhang Lin was second-quickest in 3:43.32, and South Korea's world champion Park Tae-Hwan was third-fastest in 3:43.35.

Australian Grant Hackett left plenty in reserve, notching the fifth-fastest time of the night (3:44.03), behind Russian Nikita Lobintsev (3:43.45).

Zhang's victory in his heat whipped up fans, as did the Chinese quartet's performance in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay heats.

Zhu Yingwen, Tang Yi, Xu Yanwei and Pang Jiaying's 3:36.78 gave them an Asian record and the top time heading into the final ahead of Germany, the United States, and world record-holders the Netherlands.

Defending champions Australia were safely in the final with the sixth-fastest time.

America's Elizabeth Beisel, 15, emerged as the unlikely leader in the women's 400m individual medley, posting the fastest qualifying time for the final of 4:34.55 and leaving the two swimmers expected to duel for gold - Katie Hoff and Stephanie Rice - in her wake.

Hoff, who in June regained the world record Rice had snatched from her in March, was second fastest in 4:34.63, while Rice was joint third-fastest in 4:35.11 alongside Italy's European champion Alessia Filippi.

Australian Jessicah Schipper was the top qualifier for the semi-finals in the women's 100m butterfly, stealing the thunder of teammate Libby Trickett with a time of 57.58 seconds.

Schipper, the 200m butterfly world record-holder, surged past China's Zhou Yafei, who was second in the heat and joint second-fastest overall alongside American Christine Magnuson. Tao Li of Singapore was fourth-fastest.

Trickett, bidding for five gold medals at the Games, notched just the 12th-fastest time, which put her safely into the semis.

She said the unusual night preliminaries - thanks to a schedule change designed to allow US broadcaster NBC to showcase Phelps's finals in prime viewing time back home - made for a heightened heats atmosphere.

"It is obviously a lot faster being at night and being an Olympics event, it was always going to be a lot tougher," Trickett said.

- AFP