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On a Near Full-Year Taper, Michael Phelps Still Loses to a Shark

Nope, this isn’t an April Fools joke, Michael Phelps really did race a shark in open water. Well, a hypothetical shark. And he had a monofin on (Phelps, not the shark, who had actual, legitimate fins made for swimming).

In a special that aired tonight on the Discovery Channel to kick off Shark Week, Phelps donned the monofin in a race against a simulated great white shark to see who could cover 100 meters faster. Forget about flip turns, Lochte turns, and “HE’S BREATHING TO THE WRONG SIDE”– this was done in open waters off of the coast of South Africa, where Phelps swam 100 meters to try to beat one of the most fearsome creatures of the deep.

Still, he lost.

PHELPS (tapered for a full year for this, presumably human, has a son named Boomer) – 38.1 seconds

SHARK (probably not tapered, has told media he’s been faster in practice, wore an Aquablade) – 36.1 seconds

Fans who were expecting a literal race between a live shark and Phelps, side-by-side, were probably disappointed, but the hypothetical shark pretty much creamed the GOAT. Sharks eat goats for breakfast anyways, or something like that. Scientists had projected that great whites can reach up to 26 miles per hour at peak speed, as opposed to the 5.5mph that Phelps reached at the end of his WR 100 butterfly in 2009.

Earlier in the show, Phelps did find some success. In the Bahamas, he raced a hypothetical reef shark and a hypothetical hammerhead shark over 50 meters, out-touching the reef shark 18.7 to 18.9, while the hammerhead easily won in 15.1.

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Mardo4
7 years ago

I couldn’t see Phelps, since he had mono gin was he swimming fly?

Mardo4
Reply to  Braden Keith
7 years ago

Got it, thnx

Rory O\'Connor
7 years ago

MP…good sport about the whole thing. It takes big ones to jump in water after days of chumming for Big Whites! We’d love to have Mel and Mike come support the Navy SEAL Foundation by swimming in our inaugural Golden Gate Frogman Swim, August 6. Thanks Mel!!!

Lpman
7 years ago

This was the worst piece of garbage. I don’t know what’s worst…that they made this poorly animated race or the fact that I still watches it

Jack
7 years ago

Very kind of Phelps to spend his whole career vs humans going roughly 9 seconds slower than he was capable of, apparently.

Jack
Reply to  Jack
7 years ago

Oh. Monofin. Thought they were just fudging results, then went back and read the article better.

tea rex
7 years ago

Phelps would win in backstroke.
(Actually, most humans could beat a shark in backstroke).

Brownish
7 years ago

The hypothetical reef shark is only fast at night. By day they’re mostly sleeping.

CraigH
7 years ago

They should have had one of these guys do it! 14 seconds over 50m!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3yUuOemCQ7U

Ledecky vs Shark
7 years ago

That was definitely Chad LeClos on a shark suit; the RSA was the smoking gun.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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