A Look At Phelps At Pan Pacs

Hats off to Swimming World TV because their interview coverage of the Pan Pacific Championships has been really good. Above is obviously a candid interview with Michael Phelps talking about his performance this week and what basic needs to happen over the next couple of years to work his way back up to swimming at the level he (and the world) expect him to swim.

For those who have not followed results it's clear that Phelps is ready to swim about 100m before things start to fall apart after that point...

DAY 1...
200FL, Phelps wins gold 1:54.11 ascending to 30.44 in the last 50, which is a little out of character. Phelps avoids swimming the 200FR and thus avoids a showdown with Ryan Lochte (Lochte won gold convincingly in the 200FR).

DAY 2...
400IM, Phelps falls victim to a unique Pan Pac rule where only 2 swimmers from each country can represent their nation in Finals. Phelps swims the 4th fastest time in the prelims (4:15.38) but is the 3rd American behind impressive performances by Ryan Lochte (4:08) and Tyler Clary (4:09). Phelps' best time in the 400IM is 4:03.84 so clearly 4:15 is not good. Phelps decided to scratch the B-Final.
4x200 FR RELAY, Phelps leads off the US relay and goes 1:45.62, which was only slightly slower then Lochte's Pan Pac gold medal performance of 1:45.30 in the 200FR on Day 1.

DAY 3...
100FL, Phelps wins gold in an impressive 50.86, probably his best swim of the meet thus far. Afterwards Phelps was a little disappointed with his speed in the front end of the swim (24.03) but pleased coming back in 26.83.
4x100 FR RELAY, Phelps leads off the team and smokes out a Pan Pac record 48.13, which would have bested team mate Nathan Adrian's winning time in the 100FR, which was 48.15... A pleasant surprise.

DAY 4...
200IM... Phelps scratches out of the 200IM avoiding the showdown with Ryan Lochte that fans were so anxiously awaiting. Just a few weeks prior at the same pool in Irvine, at US Nationals, Lochte beat Phelps in their 200IM showdown there and it's clear that Phelps did not want a repeat of that defeat and was more comfortable scratching and waiting to battle another day.

Two years to go before London and the best swimmer of the last decade is starting to show cracks in his game... He's still very young, younger then the emerging Ryan Lochte, so it's time for Phelps to re-commit to the sport and put his celebrity aside in order to re-establish the dominance of his brand in two years in London. The turning point is now though, that much is very clear.