Fly failure spurs Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps plans to swim the 200m free 200m backstroke and 200m fly in Charlotte Michael Phelps has arrived at the Charlotte UltraSwim still stinging from his 200m butterfly defeat in Michigan last month. The 14-time Olympic gold medallist finished fourth in the race in Ann Arbor won by China's Wu Peng, Phelps' first defeat in the event since the 2002 Pan Pacific Championships.
"It was obviously frustrating, because (the streak) was something I wanted to keep going my entire career," Phelps said on Thursday. "I've used it as motivation."

Phelps has acknowledged that lackadaisical training had contributed to some sub-par performances since he swept all before him at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The stunning fly finish in Michigan -- where Phelps won three events but was also disappointed in three -- was another wake-up call.
"To be honest, it's probably what I needed," Phelps said. "I was playing with fire, and I got burnt pretty hard, and it was a fairly big one.
"It's better that it came at a Grand Prix meet than at a national championship or Olympics."
Phelps plans to swim the 200m free, 200m backstroke and 200m fly in Charlotte, where the meeting started Thursday with the men's 800m freestyle won by Sean Ryan and the women's 1500m free won by Chloe Sutton.

Cullen Jones started his week with a bang as he won a 50m freestyle swim-off against Josh Schneider to secure the last berth on the US squad for the World Championships in Shanghai in July.
Jones won in 22.24sec, four-hundredths of a second ahead of Schneider in the head-to-head battle. The two had tied for second in the event behind Nathan Adrian at the US championships last August.
While Phelps is swimming a limited schedule, he will get a crack at his longtime US teammate and rival Ryan Lochte in the 200m backstroke.
Lochte said he thought Phelps had moved on since Michigan.
"It obviously made him upset, and he seems more focused," Lochte said. "That's good for him, but it also helps the other swimmers here. It's good for the sport."

Bob Bowman, the coach who masterminded Phelps' preparation for his unprecedented eight-gold assault in Beijing, said he and his most famous swimmer were still fine-tuning the programme and methods to take him through this summer's world championships and next year's London Olympics.
"We're trying to find the optimum level for him, to put in place certain blocks to build this house," Bowman said.
"Leading up to Beijing, any time we had the opportunity to do more, we did it. Not now. The challenge now is more clear. He's much more mature, more experienced, and the focus in training has been different."