MELBOURNE, Australia -- This is how well things are going for Michael Phelps at the FINA World Championships: He broke his third world record in three days yesterday, and he did it nearly blind.
Phelps had a bit of a goggle issue on the last lap of the 200-meter individual medley final. His eyes were full of water. He couldn't see if American Ryan Lochte, his main competition, was right next to him, right behind him or right in front of him. He could only swim on instinct.
It wasn't until he touched the wall, peeled off his eyewear and looked around that he saw and understood what the rest of the swimming world was already well aware of. He had made history yet again.
Phelps won his fourth gold medal with a time of 1:54.98, which was .86 of a second faster than his previous world record, set in Victoria, British Columbia, at the Pan Pacific Championships last August.
It marked the sixth time the swimmer from Rodgers Forge has broken a world record in the 200 IM and the 19th time overall he has held an individual world record. The previous two days, Phelps set world marks in the 200-meter freestyle (1:43.86) and the 200-meter butterfly (1:52.09).
"I'm definitely getting in the groove a little bit more," Phelps said. "I'm feeling a lot, lot better in the water, and I'm racing better. I've done four best times in back-to-back-to-back days, and it's been since 2003 since I've done that. But I'm only halfway done."
Phelps appears to be in such a groove, it would have almost been a disappointment had he not set a world record. He didn't even bother to smile when he saw his time. He simply put his left hand in the air and gently shook his fist in mild celebration. Lochte was right with Phelps at 150 meters, but Phelps, as usual, exploded off the final wall to win easily.
"I was hoping to God that [Lochte] wasn't going to do a farther kick-out than I was, because that would have made the race a lot more interesting," Phelps said.
Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, said the 200 IM was the one race this week in which he thought Phelps would and should break a world record.
"It was a very good race because he was so closely challenged," Bowman said. "Probably of the races he's swam so far, I think there is more room for improvement [in the 200 IM], which is nice."
In retrospect, it should have been obvious from the first night that Phelps was going to dominate this week. On the opening leg of the 4 x 100-meter relay, Phelps touched the wall in 48.42 seconds, giving the U.S. team an early lead en route to winning gold.
