Phelps Suffers First Loss in Nearly a Year

CHARLOTTE, May 16 -- After a pair of victories welcomed Michael Phelps back to competition Friday, a reality check slapped him a day later. Phelps lost a swim final for the first time in nearly a year Saturday night, hours after proving in a highly anticipated morning heat that he is not likely to become the Usain Bolt of his sport any time soon.

In the evening session of the Charlotte UltraSwim, Phelps finished second in the 100-meter backstroke to Aaron Peirsol, the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder, failing to pull the upset in an event Peirsol has dominated but which Phelps intends to make one of his specialties.

Earlier in the day, Phelps offered an impressive -- but imperfection-laden -- foray into his sport's flat-out sprint, the 50-meter freestyle, finishing eighth overall in preliminary heats of an event in which he had never before competed.

"No matter who I'm racing, I hate to lose," Phelps said after posting a time of 53.79 second in the backstroke, 0.47 behind Peirsol. "No matter what."

No matter that Phelps returned to training only eight weeks ago and professed, entering the meet, complete ignorance of how fast he could go. No matter that he came here determined to tangle with a handful of largely unfamiliar events -- the 100 free Sunday and the 50 free and 100 back Saturday.

"You're racing the fastest guy ever coming back after eight weeks," Phelps's coach Bob Bowman said, "what are you going to do?"

Peirsol, who provided Phelps with his last defeat on May 17, 2008, in the 200 backstroke, admitted that he sorely wanted the victory Saturday, despite this meet's status as merely a preseason tune-up. Phelps, he said, has been the only man to provide him with much of a challenge in the event over the last four years.

"I definitely wanted to win that, yeah," Peirsol said. "He's always up for it. He doesn't like to lose, so I know I have to go in there with the same mentality."

Meanwhile, North Dakota swimmer Dagny Knutson won her third race of the meet while defeating Baltimore's Katie Hoff for the second time, edging her in the 400 freestyle final with a time of 4 minutes 9.60 seconds. Hoff, 19, who is in the midst of heavy training, touched the wall 0.12 later.

Even though Phelps qualified for Saturday's 50 final with his time of 23.24 seconds in his heat, he elected to swim only the 100 back during the night session. The decision reflected the harsh reality of the event -- which Frenchman Fred Bousquet eventually won in 21.33 -- for Phelps.

"Michael just doesn't really have the explosive power to do . . . a great 50," Bowman said. "The 100 is as far down as I think he can go. I think it will be a great training tool for his 100."

Phelps and Bowman agreed that Phelps made a number of tactical errors in his heat: He kept his head too low for the first 25 meters. He stayed underwater too long off of the dive (underwater swimming is considered an advantage in every event except the 50 free). His hands entered the water at an imperfect angle.

During the race, Phelps performed the straight-armed freestyle stroke that former Aussie sprinter Michael Klim turned heads with, and Bousquet has helped popularize.

The new stroke looks dramatically different than a typical freestyle because the elbow never bends above the water, creating a windmill effect. The idea is to generate more power per stroke, but the technique can be exhausting.

Bowman speculated that the stroke has recently gained popularity -- fellow U.S. Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones also is switching to it -- in part because of advances in the controversial long-length suits that swimmers now rely on for major competitions.

"The suits give you the endurance part of it, and the arms can do the windmill better," Bowman said.

Phelps, however, appears to need more than a new suit for success in that event. And he will have his work cut out for him in the 100 back as well, especially with the emergence this year of Japanese backstroker Ryosuke Irie, who recently posted the second-fastest time ever.

"He'll remember this race more," Bowman said. "When he gets beat is when he remembers a race more."