SHANGHAI: Michael Phelps eased his world championships heartache with a 100m butterfly win Saturday as 16-year-old Missy “Missile” Franklin exploded onto the scene with another two gold medals in Shanghai.
Drug-row Brazilian Cesar Cielo earned his second sprint title and Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington broke Britain’s gold medal duck in the women’s 800m, as Franklin helped the United States win their first 4x100m medley in more than a decade.
Phelps, the world and Olympic champion and world record-holder, was third halfway through the 100m butterfly but he swept through the field to win in 50.71sec, ahead of Poland’s Konrad Czerniak and America’s Tyler McGill.
With nemesis Ryan Lochte watching from the stands, Phelps extended his record number of world titles to 25, including three in Shanghai, alongside two silver medals and one bronze.
“I’m not in the right shape physically. I want to be faster. It’s a tough race,” Phelps said.
“Sometimes I need to judge what I can do better. I need definitely to push in the first 50 metres.
“I’ll work on my next game. I’ll watch some races and think about how I can be faster.”
Phelps returned to China looking for a possible seven golds, to follow his eight from the 2008 Olympics, but he was beaten by Lochte in the 200m freestyle and again in the 200m individual medley, where his teammate set a world record.
Phelps now faces the challenge of returning to peak condition for his swansong at next year’s London Olympics, after acknowledging he has neglected training and spent too much time playing golf following the Beijing Games. (Agencies)