SWIMMING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS:IT WAS a dramatic third day at the 13th World Championships here with the governing body announcing that the controversial, 100 per cent polyurethane suits are to be banned, with Michael Phelps beaten in the 200 metres freestyle and with Ireland's Barry Murphy breaking new ground for the domestic squad by making the semi-finals of the 50 metres breaststroke.
The defeat of Phelps sent shockwaves through the sport and his coach, Bob Bowman, said the American would not swim again until the issue was resolved. “Bob sorts my schedule,” confirmed a distraught Phelps.
As the world records tumbled for a third straight day, the Fina executive backed the decision of its congress to return international competition to the use of “textile” suits in the middle of next year, ending the short tenure of the bodysuit.
But Julio Maglione, the Fina president, announced it would be “April or May” before the rule is enforced, bowing to manufacturer pressure to be allowed more time.
Fina have dug themselves into a large hole which they hope to climb from when the bodysuits are finally consigned to history. For the moment, the new records stand, but are held in very low regard.
It was all a prelude to the finals session, when the first race of the evening was the eagerly-awaited men’s 200 metres freestyle where Paul Biedermann of Germany, already a winner of the 400 free, took on Phelps.
The American ultimately was to suffer defeat as the German journeyman, wearing a skin-tight Arena X-glide suit, took the gold in another world record of one minute 42.00 seconds, handing Phelps his first defeat in the 200 free since the “race of the century” at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Phelps had stuck with the Speedo LZR which brought him such success in Beijing, and it cost him the title. The “Baltimore Bullet” had to be content with the silver medal.
Phelps dusted himself down from defeat and turned his attention to the 200 metres butterfly semi-finals, where qualified easily for tonight’s final.
For Ireland, it was a decent day as Dubliner Murphy shocked even himself perhaps by getting among the world’s elite in the 50 metres breaststroke, winning his heat in a suit-assisted 27.26, not only an Irish record but for a short while a world championship best.
In the semis Murphy finished fifth in the first of the two races, slightly shower than his heat time and 13th overall, but a good day nevertheless for the Tennessee-based swimmer who still has the 50 and 100 metres freestyle to come.
“I was expecting my 50 breaststroke to be my best event here,” he said.
“I had a shocker in Belgrade a couple of weeks ago (at the World University Games) which forced me to look at my breaststroke at the training camp in Tuscany before this meet.
“Obviously with my coach Andy Thelwell here we got it right. I forced it too much (in Belgrade) as I wanted it too much and as a result I started spinning in the water.
“Today I went with the attitude that I had nothing to lose and I was relaxed an calm as a result.”
Andrew Bree went in an earlier heat of the 50 metres breaststroke as he continued to build up to his big event, the 200 metres breaststroke, the heats of which are on tomorrow morning.
“It was okay. I’m still trying out a couple of new things, but I’m confident ahead of the 200 on Thursday,” said Bree.
Ireland had two other competitors in yesterday morning’s heats, but Claire Dawson and Niamh O’Sullivan failed to emerge to the evening semi-finals after rather indifferent swims in the 200 metres freestyle.
