Not Even Illness Seems to Slow Down Phelps

World-record holder Michael Phelps shrugged off a suspected case of food poisoning and put on a show at the Counsilman Classic on Sunday night.

Phelps swam three times -- winning the 200-meter backstroke (1 minute 57.6 seconds) and 100 freestyle (49.45 seconds) and adding a time trial in the 200 freestyle (1:48.30) -- in 37 minutes.

“I’ve never been under that much stress before,” he said.

All three times were faster than expected, giving Phelps and coach Bob Bowman the impression that he’s right on schedule in his rigorous training regimen for the Athens Olympics in August.

Some expect him to challenge Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in one Olympics.

“To be sick the first two days and come in and do that is very pleasing,” Phelps said. “It’s very relaxing and reassuring to know we’re not far off and we are where we want to be right now.”

Phelps and Bowman said they believed that chicken Phelps ate at a shopping mall Thursday made him ill, forcing him to withdraw from three events.

After finishing second in the 200 freestyle final Friday, Phelps withdrew from the 400 individual medley. On Saturday, he was held out of the 200 butterfly and the 200 breaststroke.

Phelps said he slept for about 14 hours before testing himself in the pool just before the finals began Saturday night.

On Sunday, he started with the 200 backstroke, beating his preliminary time by nearly four seconds.

Phelps got off to a slow start in the 100 free and was nearly a full second behind Ryk Neethling, who beat Phelps in the 200 freestyle on Friday, at the 50-meter turn. But a furious rally in the final 25 meters pushed him just past Neethling (49.59).

“After the 200, even though I didn’t feel great, I don’t like to lose,” Phelps said. “So coming back in that 100 and running the guys down in the last 50 gave me something to be happy about.”

He capped the evening with a time trial in the 200 freestyle that was faster than the time he posted on Friday (1:48.78) under much less physical strain.

“We want him to not only have a physical feel for what he’s going to be up against, but the mental, what it’s going to be like psychologically,” Bowman said.