Phelps posts year's fastest 200m butterfly

Michael Phelps delivered a blistering 200m butterfly time of 1:55.32 on Saturday, clocking the fastest time in the world this year to win the event at USA Swimming's Columbus Grand Prix.

Phelps improved on Joseph Roebuck's 1:55.94 set at Britain's Olympic trials at London's Olympic Aquatics Centre on Tuesday.

Phelps sliced more than half a second off that time, gaining a comfortable victory over Tom Kremer (1:58.34) and Dakota Hodgson (1:59.31).

Japan's Kosuke Kitajima won the men's 200m breaststroke in 2:10.35, good enough for fourth on this year's world list.

Masayuki Kishida grabbed another victory for Japan, winning the men's 50m freestyle in 22.62 ahead of South African Graeme Moore (22.75) and Hungary's Krisztian Takacs (22.78).

Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos cruised to victory in the women's 200m fly in a time of 2:08.09, which put her sixth in the world this year.

Natalie Coughlin won the women's 100m backstroke in 1:00.81, with Mexico's Maria Gonzalez Ramirez second in 1:00.96.

David Plummer's winning time of 53.73 in the men's 100m back put him fifth in the world his year. Matt Grevers was second in 53.79 and Brazil's Guilherme Guido third in 56.20.

Phelps, whose 14 Olympic gold medals include an unprecedented eight in one Games at Beijing in 2008, had plenty of energy left over to sign autographs for eager swim fans.

AFP