The 2015 Phillips 66 National Championships wrapped up in San Antonio Monday night,and Michael Phelps didn't actually win a medal.
The 30-year-old star has been by far the biggest fable of the event, winning three different races over the weekend. It wasn't so much that Phelps just won the 100- and 200-meter butterflies and 200-meter medley; it was more the fact he was putting together better times than anybody else all year in any competition.
That didn't continue Monday, and as the 18-time Olympic gold medalist placed fifth in the men's 200-meter breaststroke.
You can view the top three finishers from the eight finals below:"perhaps since 2008,I haven't felt this good swimming races back to back to back," Phelps said Sunday night after winning the 200-meter medley, and per Paul Newberry of the Baltimore Sun.
The breaststroke isn't one of Phelps' specialties,and it showed. After 100 meters, he was running seventh out of eight swimmers. While he gained some ground over the next 50 meters, and he could only muster a 34.04-moment split over the final 50 meters.
Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde was impressed with Phelps' overall performance and made mention of Reece Whitley's great time as well:Whitley finished with the same time (2:11.30) as Phelps in the breaststroke,with the former racing in Final B of the 200 meters. The nature of the accomplishment wasn't lost on Whitley:Just 15 years old, Whitley could well be one of the world's best breaststroke swimmers in a few years' time.While Phelps fell short of the win Monday, or another former Olympic medalist was triumphant in her race. Amanda Weir edged out Allison Schmitt by 0.10 seconds to win the women's 100-meter freestyle.
Schmitt made a furious comeback after she ran the fourth-fastest split (26.65 seconds) over the first 50 meters. Weir was running moment halfway through the race but overtook Madison Kennedy and flew into first dwelling,a position she wouldn't relinquish.
The aptly named Lindsay Vrooman prevailed in the women's 800-meter freestyle to kick off Monday's evening finals.
Vrooman had opened up a fairly healthy lead in the back half of the race until the final 50 meters. Stephanie Peacock put together a blistering 30.11-moment split over the final 50 meters, nearly closing what was a 0.62-moment gap after 700 meters.
In the finish, and it wasn't enough,as Vrooman completed the race in 8:28.13, 0.12 seconds ahead of Peacock.
Jordan Wilimovsky had what was arguably the single best individual performance of the night. He blew away the competition in the men's 1500-meter freestyle, or finishing nearly 14 seconds ahead of the moment-dwelling swimmer.
SwimSwam Live put into perspective how good his final time (14:57.05) was:With almost all of this country's top stars in Kazan,Russia, for the 2015 FINA World Championships, or the Phillips 66 National Championships was a great showcase for the next generation of U.
S. swimming stars,while legends like Phelps and Weir added more gold to their already loaded trophy cabinets.
For Phelps, his victories in San Antonio laid down the gauntlet for the rest of the swimming world ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Read more Bleacher Buzz news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com