 "Photo: May-Ying Lam")
It has been nearly seven years since Michael Phelps broke the first world record of his career at the age of 15 in the 200-meter butterfly at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. Twenty-two world records and six Olympic gold medals later, the swimming superstar still feels there is much he has yet to accomplish in the sport.
"I still have a lot left to do, whether it's [improving] times, whether it's personal achievements, whatever it is," Phelps said. "I still have a lot of goals that I want to accomplish, and to be honest, my career is not going to be over until it's done … unless I hit 30 first."
Phelps was back in Austin to take part in the All-American Long Course Championships, which were held from March 6 to 8 at the Texas Swimming Center. Although he won the only event that he was scheduled to compete in, the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps had mixed feelings about his performance.
"It was half of a good race," he said. "My first half was decent; my second half could have been better."
Phelps owns the current world record in that event at 1 minute, 54.98 seconds, but contends that it was not a feasible goal for him to break that record at the Long Course Championships.
"I'd love to break a world record every swim, I really would," he said. "But I knew coming into today that I wouldn't break it. I wasn't ruling anything out, but it was going to be a long shot for me to break the record today."
Phelps also said that while he cannot wait for the Olympics to come, now is a crucial time for swimmers to make any personal corrections and improvements before it is too late.
"There's not much between now and trials, and now and the Olympics," he said. "And if there's any time to change, I think this is it."
But what can someone so accomplished and talented in their field improve?
"A lot of things actually," Phelps said. "Getting in a better routine, sleeping more, being in better endurance shape, stroke technique - the list goes on and on."
Former Longhorns and Olympic gold medalists Ian Crocker, Aaron Peirsol and Brendan Hansen also took part in the Long Course Championships. Like Phelps, Crocker only swam in one event, the 100-meter butterfly, winning the race with a time of 51.32 seconds.
He did not feel that it was his best performance, but was happy with the outcome.
"Going into it I felt pretty good, and I felt like I was going to have a great race," Crocker said. "And in the end I'm happy with the improvement over the morning swim [in the preliminaries], but it still wasn't exactly where I wanted to be. Obviously, ideally you would like to go your best times all the time; but unfortunately as you get older it's not so easy to do."
Hansen competed in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events. He won the 100-meter race, but was edged out in the 200 by fellow Longhorn Aquatics member Eric Shanteau.
Peirsol swam with Crocker in the 100-meter butterfly, placing fifth, and won both the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events.
"I did well," Peirsol said. "I swam pretty fast and it's a good place to be for what's going on the next few months."
Be the first to comment on this article!