Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Loretta Race.
30-year-old Michael Phelps raced his way to a solid win tonight, taking gold in the sprint fly event in a time of 51.94. That time sits within MP’s Top 10 since coming out of retirement and is a solid start to his 2016 season. Phelps pulled a dirty double, having already swum the 100m freestyle tonight, where he finished out of the medals. Splits for Phelps in this fly race were 24.69/27.25 and his signature smooth stroke came on strong to beat out a surging Tom Shields.
Shields split 24.85/27.54 to claim runner-up to Phelps in a time of 52.39. Tim Phillips registered a mark of 52.61 for 3rd place tonight.
Phelps now owns the world’s 2nd- and 5th-fastest times in the event so far this season.