Michael Phelps beaten in 100m butterfly at Charlotte

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Michael Phelps finished third in the 100m butterfly at a Pro Swim Series meet in Charlotte on Friday, coming in behind two U.S. rivals in the event.

Tom Shields, who defeated Phelps at the U.S. Championships last year, prevailed in 52.12. Longtime Phelps challenger Ryan Lochte was second in 52.52, followed by the most decorated Olympian of all time in 52.59.

Phelps, the fastest 100m fly swimmer in the world last year in 51.17, had won the 100m fly at his previous meet this year in Mesa, Ariz., in April. He swam 52.38 in Mesa.

The fastest U.S. man in the 100m fly this year is Jack Conger, who posted 51.64 in January. Conger was seventh in 53.38 on Friday.

Earlier, Phelps clocked 1:49.12 in a 200m free consolation final. He missed the top eight-man final after ranking 14th in the morning preliminary heats.

Conor Dwyer won the 200m free in 1:47.04, ranking No. 12 in the world this year and No. 1 among Americans. Lochte was fourth in 1:48.35, while Phelps’ time would have placed fifth in the top final.

Phelps’ best 200m free time last year was 1:48.20. His American record from the Beijing Olympics is 1:42.96.

“My turns are still pretty terrible,” Phelps told media in Charlotte. “But it’s a lot better than what it was last year.”

FINA women’s Swimmer of the Year Katinka Hosszu of Hungary won the women’s 200m freestyle in 1:55.89, ahead of Olympic champion Allison Schmitt‘s 1:57.24.

Hosszu’s time made her the fourth-fastest woman this year, 1.21 seconds behind Dutch leader Femke Heemskerk. Schmitt is the No. 2 American this year behind Katie Ledecky, who is not swimming in Charlotte. World champion Missy Franklin hasn’t competed in a 200m free this year and is also not swimming in Charlotte.

Hosszu also took the 400m individual medley in 4:35.19, bettering her third-ranked time for the year in an event where she’s the reigning World champion.

World silver medalist Chase Kalisz prevailed in the men’s 400m IM in 4:14.56, the fastest time by an American this year but 6.02 seconds slower than Japanese world leader Kosuke Hagino, who is not in Charlotte.

Katie Meili clocked the fastest 100m breaststroke by a U.S. woman since 2013 by winning in 1:06.50, ranking her No. 4 in the world this year. World bronze medalist Jessica Hardy was second in 1:06.97.

Earlier Friday, 12-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin swam a 100m backstroke time trial in 1:00.06, her fastest time in the event since she was third at the 2012 Olympic trials in 1:00.08.

She’s the fastest American in the event this year, though Franklin and other top collegians haven’t yet transitioned from NCAA yards swimming to meters meets to post any times.

Coughlin, who won the 100m back at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, has entered the event this year for the first time since the Olympic trials and could take another crack at it at the 2016 Olympic trials. Coughlin, like Schmitt, did not qualify for the 2015 World Championships team.

The meet continues through Sunday. Phelps is scheduled for the 200m butterfly and 100m backstroke on Saturday. Phelps had sworn off the 200m fly in his comeback last year but will swim it for the first time since the London Olympics.

“It’s interesting watching the world in this event,” Phelps told media in Charlotte. “If you look at what [Tom] Malchow won in 2000 [at the Sydney Olympics], still what everybody’s going nowadays. It’s still not that fast an event.”

Malchow won gold in 2000 in 1:55.35. Two men worldwide have broken 1:55 since the London Olympics, Japan’s Daiya Seto and South Africa’s Chad le Clos, who beat Phelps in the 2012 Olympic final.

“For me to ever want to really compete at that race, I would make sure that I was in the best shape possible,” Phelps said. “I know what I have to do to be able to get there. I don’t know if I’m ready to do that.”

Gymnastics team event sizes at Olympics cut to four

French Open: Iga Swiatek rolls toward possible Coco Gauff rematch

Iga Swiatek
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Iga Swiatek reached the French Open third round without dropping a set, eyeing a third Roland Garros title in four years. Not that she needed the help, but Swiatek’s immediate draw is wide open after the rest of the seeds in her section lost.

Swiatek dispatched 102nd-ranked American Claire Liu 6-4, 6-0 on Thursday, the same score as her first-round win. She gets 80th-ranked Wang Xinyu of China in the round of 32.

The other three seeds in Swiatek’s section all lost in the first round, so the earliest that the world No. 1 could play another seed is the quarterfinals. And that would be No. 6 Coco Gauff, who was runner-up to Swiatek last year.

Gauff plays her second-round match later Thursday against 61st-ranked Austrian Julia Grabher. Gauff also doesn’t have any seeds in her way before a possible Swiatek showdown.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Swiatek, who turned 22 on Wednesday, came into this year’s French Open without the invincibility of a year ago, when she was 16-0 in the spring clay season during an overall 37-match win streak.

She retired from her last pre-French Open match with a right thigh injury, but said it wasn’t serious. That diagnosis appears to have been spot-on through two matches this week, though her serve was broken twice in the first set of each match.

While the men’s draw has been upended by 14-time champion Rafael Nadal‘s pre-event withdrawal and No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev‘s loss in the first round, the top women have taken care of business.

Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, American Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan also reached the third round without dropping a set.

Though all of them have beaten Swiatek in 2023, the Pole remains the favorite to lift the trophy a week from Saturday. She can join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win three or more French Opens since 2000.

She can also become the youngest woman to win three French Opens since Monica Seles in 1992 and the youngest woman to win four Slams overall since Williams in 2002.

Swiatek doesn’t dwell on it.

“I never even played Serena or Monica Seles,” she said. “I’m kind of living my own life and having my own journey.”

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Penny Oleksiak to miss world swimming championships

Penny Oleksiak
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Seven-time Olympic medalist Penny Oleksiak of Canada will miss July’s world swimming championships because she does not expect to be recovered enough from knee and shoulder injuries.

“The bar that we set was, can she be as good as she’s ever been at these world championships?” coach Ryan Mallette said in a press release. “We just don’t feel like we’re going to be ready to be 100 percent yet this summer. Our focus is to get her back to 100 percent as soon as possible to get ready for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”

Oleksiak, who owns the Canadian record of seven Olympic medals (across all sports), missed Canada’s trials meet for worlds two months ago due to the injuries. She was still named to the team at the time in hope that she would be ready in time for worlds.

The 22-year-old returned to competition last month at a Mare Nostrum meet in Barcelona, after which she chose to focus on continued rehab rather than compete at worlds in Fukuoka, Japan.

“Swimming at Mare Nostrum was a checkpoint for worlds, and I gave it my best shot,” Oleksiak said in the release. “We reviewed my swims there, and it showed me the level I want to get back to. Now I need to focus on my rehab to get back to where I want to be and put myself in position to be at my best next season.”

Oleksiak had knee surgery last year to repair a meniscus. After that, she developed a left shoulder injury.

In 2016, Oleksiak tied for Olympic 100m freestyle gold with American Simone Manuel. She also earned 100m butterfly silver in Rio and 200m free bronze in Tokyo, along with four relay medals between those two Games.

At last year’s worlds, she earned four relay medals and placed fourth in the 100m free.

She anchored the Canadian 4x100m free relay to silver behind Australia at the most recent Olympics and worlds.

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