Michael Phelps Breaks 100m Butterfly World Record

Sports Betting News - July 10th, 2009 - Written by Bruce

Thursday night Michael Phelps made a big statement when he broke the 100m butterfly world record. Swimming at the ongoing U.S. national championships Phelps broke Ian Crocker's previous world record of 50.40 when he swam the race in 50.22. Phelps has only been back swimming for two months coming off a suspension due to a picture of him using a marijuana pipe was published. Phelps led at 50m of the race three tenths of second behind world record pace at 23.83. He has always been known for his amazing turns at the wall and for being a very strong finisher. He had huge second half of the race and when he touched the wall he indeed did break Crocker's four year old world record winning the race at a blazing 50.22 seconds.

Phelps made himself a world wide celebrity when he won a record eight gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He also set an incredible seven world records in the process. Phelphs own a total of 14 Olympic gold medals a number he will likely add to in the 2012 games. With the newly added word record from last night, Phelps currently has five individual swimming world records. He owns the records in the 100 and 200 butterfly events, 200 freestyle, and both the 200 and 400 individual medleys. He is undoubtedly the most dominant swimmer in the world today and when he is done swimming he will no doubt go down as the best of all time. He will next be swimming at the world championships later this month which will be held in Rome.

Coming off the three month suspension Phelps had not looked like his dominant self and lost some races before the current national championship meet. Many had questioned if he would return to his swimming form we all saw in the Olympics. It is truly amazing that he has managed to get back to swimming his very best in such a short period of time. This 100m butterfly world record has eluded Phelps for years and he actually owned the record for one day when he broke it in the 2003 world championships. Ian Crocker broke the record the next day and has lowered it twice since then. With Phelps showing he is back in peak swimming form the upcoming world championships could be the stage of another historic meet from the great swimmer.