Phelps Slips but Doesn’t Falter in 400-Meter Win

Michael Phelps’ foot slipped off the blocks at the start of the men’s 400-meter individual medley Friday night and the crowd groaned at the George Haines International Swim Center.

Phelps still won the race easily in a meet record time of 4 minutes 14.98 seconds at Santa Clara XXXVII International. Phelps had shaken the water out of his eyes by the time second-place finisher Erik Vendt touched the wall.

Such is life for the 18-year-old swimmer from Baltimore who is aiming at Mark Spitz’s Olympic record of seven swimming gold medals.

This time, there was no world record for Phelps, who holds three of them. But it is early in the season and Phelps is just getting started in his final preparations for Athens.

Phelps is entered in six events this weekend. The Santa Clara meet and the Janet Evans meet next month in Long Beach are the final major competitions scheduled for most U.S. Olympic hopefuls before the Olympic trials in early July in Long Beach.

Natalie Coughlin, who had hoped to medal in several events at last year’s world championships before falling ill, is back in top form and it showed in the women’s 100 freestyle.

Coughlin, 21, from the University of California, also set a meet record of 54.77 seconds, more than a second ahead of Irvine Novaquatics swimmer Colleen Lanne’s 55.90.

Other notable winners Friday included Tom Malchow, 27, who won the men’s 200 butterfly, the event in which he won Olympic silver in 1996 and gold in 2000; and Diana Munz in the women’s 400 freestyle, where she is defending Olympic silver medalist.

Phelps said he could never remember slipping off the blocks and he plans to make sure it won’t happen again.

“I’ll dry off the blocks for sure,” he said.

Phelps calculated he cost himself as much as a second and a half and that the mistake made him mad because his goal had been to swim a 4:12 and have the best time in the world so far this year.

Vendt, who is just finishing his fifth year at USC, said he could see Phelps slip.

“Of course you think this might be a chance to beat him,” Vendt said.

But by the end of the first 100 meters, Phelps had opened up a lead of more than three body lengths. Vendt had pulled up to Phelps’ waist during the breaststroke, the third of the four strokes, but Phelps peeled away, flying through the freestyle leg.

Phelps and Coughlin will spend their training and racing time this summer trying to decide what events they want to swim at the trials and then in Athens.

“Right now, it’s fun time,” Phelps said. “But I wish the Olympics were, like, today.”