For the first time in four years, Michael Phelps touched the wall second at a major international competition. And it was his swimsuit that did him in.
German Paul Biedermann won the 200-meter freeestyle today at the World Swimming Championships in Rome, finishing more than a second ahead of the 14-time gold medalist. It was Phelps' first loss in a big meet since July 2005, when he finished behind Ian Crocker in the 100-meter butterfly at worlds. (You can watch a replay of the race at universalsports.com.)
As we wrote earlier today, Phelps seemed resigned to the loss earlier this week after Biedermann stunned the swimming world by breaking Ian Thorpe's once-untouchable world record in the 400-meter free. With his Arena X-Glide suit, Bidermann has sliced seconds off his times in a sport where dropping tenths is considered a major achievement.
To say Biedermann came out of nowhere would be hyperbole, but his emergence at these championships was certainly unexpected. After finishing fifth in the 200 at the Olympics and not qualifying for the finals in the 400, Biedermann is now a double world champion. And he isn't shy about attributing much of his success to the Arena X-Glide suit that he says improves his time by two seconds.
Phelps was wearing the once-revolutionary Speedo LZR, which has now been far surpassed by the buoyancy and stability of the new polyurethane-based Arena and Jaked suits. FINA has banned those suits from competition starting next year, a necessary move, but one that comes too late to stop the world record binge in Rome.
Because the suit will be widely credited for Biedermann's victory, the loss isn't crushing for Phelps. His worldwide reputation is based on Olympics, not world championships. Earning a silver is a bitter pill to swallow, but maybe a beneficial one for the greatest swimming champion of all-time. At least he's not in danger of getting complacent.
Plus, with the playing field leveled next year in terms of suit technology, Phelps will once again become the favorite in this race. No disrespect to Biedermann, but it's not a stretch to say that if everyone swam in those old-school Mark Spitz briefs, Michael Phelps' win streak would still be alive.
Update: After the race, Phelps made his strongest statement yet about the suit controversy. When asked by NBC's Andrea Kremer about his "inferior suit," Phelps declined to take a direct shot at Biedermann but said, "I will say that next year swimming will be swimming again. You're going to have to do all the work and there's not going to be a suit that does it for you."
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