Despite his frustration about recent losses, the greatest swimmer of all time suffered another on Friday.
Olympictalk.NBCSports.com reported that 22-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps turned in a good news/bad news performance in his initial race at a Pro Swim Series meet in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday night.
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Competing in the 200-meter freestyle, Phelps finished in a time of 1 minute, 49.03 seconds, improving upon the 1:49.26 time in the morning heat of his last event in May - and a 1:49.12 in the finals.
His effort, however, still was good enough only for third place.
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Phelps, who is frantically trying to get himself in position to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, last competed in an event in Charlotte, N.C., in mid-May. For the first time since 2000 in the Sydney Olympics, Phelps finished worse than second place in every race entered.
Coming into the Santa Clara meet, Phelps told media he was tired "of just getting whooped," labeling his previous event "horrendous" and "pretty garbage," Olympictalk.NBCSports.com reported.
His coach, Bob Bowman, had said that Phelps has conducted productive training sessions this year, but the training has not translated into competitive events.
"He's had a very good training cycle since he came back [from an Arizona treatment program following a September DUI arrest] in November," Bob Bowman, sitting next to Phelps on Thursday, told Olympictalk.NBCSports.com. "The one thing he hasn't done is swim well in a meet yet. So, this is a great chance to do that. Any time now, I'm ready. But he's done the things to be able to swim well in a meet, and that's what's important. He's actually laid a foundation of training, which, if he wants to get in his head and step on the gas tomorrow, he'll be ready to go."
His improved time is encouraging, but Phelps knows he has to continue to swim faster to qualify for the Olympics.
According to Olympictalk.nbcsports.com, the Santa Clara meet is the biggest remaining for U.S. swimmers before the World Championships in Russia in August. Phelps cannot attend that meet because of his suspension resulting from his DUI arrest in September.
Phelps instead will compete in the U.S. Championships in San Antonio.
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