Wins Not Enough for Phelps

His words sounded as if they were coming from someone who had one of those truly awful days, not someone touching the wall first in two races in the window of about 45 minutes.

Michael Phelps is not easily impressed by Michael Phelps.

He added two national titles -- making it 30 in all -- to his overflowing portfolio, winning the 200-meter freestyle and later adding the 200 butterfly at the U.S. Summer National Championships at the Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine. His twin victories highlighted Wednesday’s session, along with former hometown star Aaron Peirsol, whose winning time in the 100 backstroke, 53.38 seconds, was the second-fastest in history.

Phelps won the 200 freestyle in 1:45.63, and Klete Keller, his Club Wolverine teammate in Ann Arbor, Mich., was second in 1:46.62. Though Phelps’ margin of victory was even more substantial in the 200 butterfly, 1:54.32 to Davis Tarwater’s 1:57.00, he was displeased, though not nearly as much as after Tuesday’s 400 individual medley.

“The butterfly has been the stroke that’s felt the best over the past few weeks,” said the 21-year-old Phelps, who won six Olympic gold medals in Athens in 2004. “I’m kind of disappointed, but at the same end, I have a number of things that I know right now, swimming that race I can fix.

“My turns were just horrible today. I chopped every wall. And I hit them short every time. Hopefully those things I can improve on going into Pan Pacs.”

Sounds as if it’s time to get back to turn work with Bob the Builder, as in his coach Bob Bowman. Can a mid-course correction be made in time for Canada in about two weeks?

“I think so. It’s sort of me being lazy on things,” Phelps said. “I’ve been doing the training and I’ve been doing the big things. But Bob and I were talking today and yesterday that the tiny things that are going to make the big improvements really aren’t there as much as they should be.”

It’s all relative, of course. Phelps was under world-record pace in the butterfly at 100 meters, and his eventual time was fastest of the year. He holds the world record, of 1:53.93, set in 2003.

“It’s disappointing for me to be so close so many times and not get there,” Phelps said.

Like Phelps, Peirsol came close to his own world record. His world record in the 100 backstroke, of 53.17, was more recent, coming last year. Unlike Phelps, he was pushed in his race, trailing Randal Bal at the 50-meter mark.

“Randall and I swim the race totally different,” said Peirsol, who is now based in Austin, Texas. “Randall is a great front-halfer, and if I can stay with him, my power’s in the back half. I’m more of a 200 guy. So, I knew I was in good position coming off that wall.”

Peirsol, 23, reflected on his first national title, which came at age 16 in the 200 backstroke.

“My first one was probably easier than that one,” he said, referring to Wednesday’s race.

The other winners were Leila Vaziri of Indiana University in the 100 backstroke, in 1:01.69, marking her first national title, and Natalie Coughlin in the 200 freestyle in 1:58.11, which was her second victory in two days.

Coughlin, though, does not intend to swim the 200 freestyle at the upcoming Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria, Canada. Her coach, Teri McKeever, will also be the coach at that meet.

“I didn’t want there to be any question on putting me on the 800 free relay,” said Coughlin, who won a close race against Katie Hoff. “I didn’t want there to be any favoritism or questions or anything like that.”