The 400 metre IM is a race that Michael Phelps would love to wipe of his memory.
He badly misjudged his swim in the heats, barely squeezing in to the final. In the evening, he started out smooth, but looked sluggish on the backstroke and then everything fell apart afterwards.
I kept waiting for that final kick or strong turn that would slip him into second place, but it just wasn’t his night. He clocked 4min 09.28sec, about a second and a half off his time at the US trials less than a month ago, finishing in an unfamiliar fourth place.
This race raised many question marks about his condition.
Is he in good form? Can he come back and win again and end his career on a high note after such a disappointing performance? Or did he just lose it?
Physically, he is in good shape. In the US trials he clocked world leading times in the other three events he has left to swim, the 100 and 200 fly and the 200 IM.
On the other hand, you don’t achieve that much in sports without mental toughness. Flashback to the 2009 world championships in Rome. Phelps was not in his best shape, he was badly beaten by Germany’s Paul Biedermann in the 200 free and then trash talked to the bone by Serbia’s Milorad Cavic in the build-up to the 100 fly.
Under all that pressure he blitzed the 100 fly to a world record swimming at a disadvantage in a suit that was considered outdated at the time. That’s mental toughness for you. He is smart and he knows how to win races.
Looking back at last year’s worlds, it was his tactical superiority that won him the 100 and 200 fly. He paced himself to competition, allowed them to struggle, and then finished strong to win.
But days like these come along every once in a while, you just feel that nothing is working like it should, nothing is clicking.
All you can do is just shake it off, get a good sleep and get ready for the next day.
He will be back. If anything, this will provide more motivation for him in the upcoming races. So I wouldn’t bet against him just yet.
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