Phelps Looks to Close Career with 18th Gold Medal

By PAUL NEWBERRY
AP National Writer
LONDON
One more race. Two more laps. And, in all likelihood, an 18th gold medal for Michael Phelps.

His final Olympics is turning into quite a victory lap.

Phelps will wrap up his swimming career Saturday with the butterfly leg of 4×100 medley relay, an event the U.S. men have never lost. That streak should carry right on with the Americans sending out an imposing quartet that includes three gold medalists (Phelps, freestyler Nathan Adrian and backstroker Matt Grevers), plus a guy who won bronze (breaststroker Brendan Hansen).

Indeed, it’s unfathomable to think the Phelps era could end with anything less than a performance that puts him atop the podium one last time, with yet another gold medal around his neck.

He picked up his 17th gold on Friday in his final individual race, the 100-meter butterfly, making the turn in seventh but rallying for a victory that was actually much more comfortable than his margin in the last two Olympics _ a combined five-hundredths of a second.

Phelps slammed the wall in 51.21 seconds for payback against the guy who edged him in the 200 fly, Chad le Clos of South Africa. No gliding into this finish, the move that cost Phelps the gold in their first meeting.

He’s still in race mode, at least for one more day. Phelps covered the final 50 in 26.86. Le Clos was the only other swimmer able to go under 27, and three guys failed to break 28.

Don’t fret about American swimming after he’s gone. Led by a pair of high schoolers, the post-Phelps era will be in very good hands.

In what amounted to a symbolic changing of the guard, Phelps’ victory in the 100 fly was sandwiched between 17-year-old Missy Franklin breaking a world record in the backstroke and 15-year-old Katie Ledecky taking down a hallowed American mark that was set nearly eight years before she was born.

No one is more incredible than Phelps.

It always takes him a while to get up to speed, but he brought it home like a champion. That, in a sense, sums up his Olympics farewell. He got off to a sluggish start but has three victories in the past four days, giving him 21 medals overall.

Russia’s Anastasia Zueva took silver, a body length behind Franklin in 2:05.92. Beisel put a second American on the medal podium in 2:06.55, while Coventry finished sixth.

Franklin, who is competing in seven events at her first Olympics, also has a bronze and one more race to add to her haul in the 4×100 medley relay Saturday.

Unlike the men, the American women haven’t won the medley relay since 2000. Australia took gold at the last two Olympics and led the way into the final as top qualifier, looking to bring a bit of joy to the battered team from Down Under, normally a powerhouse of the pool but limited to just one swimming gold so far in London.

Also on the schedule for the final night of swimming: the long (men’s 1,500 freestyle) and short (women’s 50 free) of it.

Sun Yang of China goes into the 1,500 with the top qualifying time, followed by defending Olympic champion Ous Mellouli of Tunisia, who also will compete in the 10-kilometer open water event at Hyde Park next week. Connor Jaeger was the lone American to make the final.

Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands led the semifinals of the 50 free, gunning for another gold to add to her victory in the 100 free. Jessica Hardy of the U.S. also qualified.

In Phelps’ victory, le Clos tied with Russia’s Evgeny Korotyshkin for the silver in 51.44. Milorad Cavic, who lost to Phelps by one-hundreth of a second in Beijing, tied for fourth in 51.81, not even close in their final meeting.

Ledecky seemingly came out of nowhere to make the U.S. team, and nearly took out a world record in her first Olympics. She was ahead of Rebecca Adlington’s record pace (8:14.10) from the Beijing Olympics until right at the end, finally tiring just a bit for a time of 8:14.63.

She settled for crushing Janet Evans’ American mark of 8:16.22, set in Tokyo on Aug. 20, 1989.

Ledecky has plenty of time to go faster, becoming the second-youngest American swimmer to claim an individual gold medal _ 75 days older than Beth Botsford was when she won the 100 backstroke at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain was far behind for silver in 8:18.76, while Britain’s defending Olympic champion held on to take bronze at 8:20.32. Adlington burst into tears on the medal stand as the crowd of 17,000 chanted “Becky! Becky! Becky!”

She had no chance of catching Ledecky.

France won its fourth gold at the pool, building on its best showing ever and denying an American sweep Friday. Florent Manaudou _ younger brother of 2004 gold medalist Laure Manaudou _ shocked defending Olympic champion and world record-holder Cesar Cielo of Brazil in the 50 freestyle.

Manaudou touched in 21.34 and pounded the water out in Lane 7, then got a big hug from his sister as soon as he climbed from the pool. Cullen Jones of the United States took silver in 21.54, while Cielo was left with bronze in 21.59. Anthony Ervin, the 2000 Olympic champion who came back from an eight-year retirement, finished fifth after getting off to a poor start.

What’s next for Phelps?

One more race.

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