Crocker Sets World Mark in an Upset

Someone named Ian was supposed to challenge the nerve of 18-year-old Michael Phelps at the world swimming championships, according to the pre-meet hype.

Everyone just had the wrong Ian.

It was Ian Crocker, not Ian Thorpe, who posted the meet’s biggest upset, winning the 100-meter butterfly Saturday, taking away Phelps’ day-old world record. The 20-year-old Crocker touched the wall in 50.98 seconds, blowing away his previous best of 52.21.

Phelps had broken his third world record of the championships, the first of the night, in the semifinals of the 100 fly, in 51.47, on Friday. It wasn’t as though he raced poorly in the final, either, also finishing under that world-record mark, going 51.10, placing second at Palau Sant Jordi.

Crocker stared at the scoreboard and held his arms up and wide in the air, looking stunned, and even later said he thought it might have been a mistake. The third-place finisher, Andrii Serdinov (51.59) of Ukraine, also rented the world record, breaking it in the semifinals Friday, before Phelps took it away in the next heat.

“I still don’t really have a reaction. My goal for two years now was to go 51 [seconds] and I guess I still haven’t made that goal,” Crocker said, dryly. “A lot of people would say, ‘Well, I had total confidence in myself.’ But deep down, you’ve got to say, ‘Hey, it’s Michael Phelps.’ ”

As for Phelps, who was sitting next to Crocker on the interview podium, he had to smile. The youngster from Baltimore was classy, even after his invincibility seemed punctured, immediately embracing Crocker in the pool.

The man who slowed down the Phelps Express is from Portland, Maine, swims for University of Texas, loves cars (in particular, a 1971 Buick Riviera), plays an electric and acoustic guitar and went to five Bob Dylan concerts this year.

Does he have a favorite Dylan song? “That’s the impossible question,” Crocker said. “I’ve got a couple of favorite albums.... People don’t necessarily love the ‘80s stuff, but I love it all.”

Crocker isn’t unknown. He made the Olympics in 2000 in the 100 fly, finishing fourth, and held the American record before Phelps broke it last summer. He doesn’t fit the stereotypical picture of a chiseled sprinter and didn’t take offense at that suggestion.

“I just do what I can with what I’ve got,” he said.

Humility was a common thread. He told stories about failing swimming lessons at age 6. “I couldn’t get past the guppy group,” Crocker said. “I could barely float.” He was practically floating in a sea of emotions after beating Phelps. “I feel like someone is going to wake me up and say it’s time to go swimming today,” Crocker said of the record.

Phelps, who won two gold medals and two silvers here, was the one with the baggage of Spitz-ian expectation. And the attention only increased when he recorded two world records in 46 minutes on Friday, beating Thorpe by more than 3 1/2 seconds in the 200 individual medley.

“In some ways, it can be looked at as an advantage to be an underdog, if you have the drive and desire to go for it,” said Crocker, who probably will swim the butterfly in tonight’s final of the medley relay, not Phelps. “I was disappointed last summer, just like Michael. We all hate to lose. When my American record disappeared last summer, another fire was lit.”

Presumably, the same will be happening in Baltimore. Phelps said more than once during his interviews that it was better to lose in Barcelona, than next summer in Athens.

“Getting silver here tonight, it can be a learning experience for me in the future,” Phelps said. “As you all know, I hate to lose. This is going to drive me even more. I’m sure it’s going to drive Ian even more. And like you said, we’re just going to keep going back and forth in the 100.”

The other riveting performance came from 31-year-old Alexander Popov of Russia, who won his second individual race, and third gold medal, in taking the 50 freestyle in 21.92. Thirty-three-year-old Mark Foster of Great Britain (22.20) was second and Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands finished third. Jason Lezak of Irvine was eighth in 22.44.

Compared to Popov and Foster, the Dutch swimmer is a kid at 25. “I feel very young,” Van den Hoogenband said.

Said Popov: “One day you will be in our shoes.”

Diana Munz of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, finished second in the 800 freestyle, losing in the final 50 meters to Hannah Stockbauer of Germany. Munz barely led at 750 before Stockbauer had a furious finish, winning in 8:23.66 to Munz’s 8:24.19. The women’s meet might as well be called “Hannah and her Swimmers,” as the German has now won three gold medals.

An ailing Natalie Coughlin, of California, returned with an opening backstroke leg of 1:02.26 in the 400 medley relay. That put the Americans in sixth, but her teammates gradually whittled away the deficit, finishing in second in 4:00.83. China won in 3:59.89.

Coughlin came down with a high fever a week ago and never recovered to be effective in her individual races.

“The worst was a couple of days when I was in bed. I was curled up in a ball, not moving, pretty much the entire day watching the meet,” she said. “I was so bored I started to watch Spanish game shows, and I really don’t know Spanish very well.”