SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Coming off one of the best races of his career, Michael Phelps is a bit sluggish in morning preliminaries for the 100-meter butterfly at the U.S. national championships Saturday.
Phelps goes off slowly and settles for the second-fastest time at 52.12 seconds. Jack Conger is the top qualifier at 51.97.
About 14 1-2 hours earlier, Phelps posted his fastest time in the 200 fly since he set the world record at the 2009 world championships. He says he must do a better job of harnessing his emotions after such an emotional race.
Phelps is eager to see the winning time at the world championships in Kazan, Russia. The final of the 100 fly is to be held within an hour of his preliminary race in San Antonio.