Phelps wins 200m fly at Arizona swim meet

Battling wind gusts of almost 60km/h, Michael Phelps has won the 200m butterfly at the Arena Pro Swim meet in Arizona.

Michael Phelps competes in the 200-meter butterfly final

Michael Phelps has won the 200m butterfly at the Arena Pro Swim meet in Arizona. (AAP)

Michael Phelps won the 200m butterfly at the Arena Pro Swim meet on Friday night, where wind gusts of almost 60km/h whipped up the water and created challenging conditions.

Phelps won in one minute, 58.14 seconds. Clark Pace finished second in 1:58.71.

Katie Ledecky won the 400m freestyle by a whopping 5.93 seconds. The world record holder cruised through the water in 4:02.15, undeterred by the cool temperatures and buffeting wind that had swimmers bundling up after their races.

"It's hard not to feel it, but I tried to forget about it as much as I could," Ledecky said. "I never really have goal times for meets like this. I just try to be consistent."

Phelps led all the way in winning at the meet near his training base at Arizona State. He had never swum in such windy conditions before.

"I'm pretty sure there were whitecaps underneath the block," he said. "I felt like I was swimming backward. It didn't feel very good. I actually thought I was going to fall off the block."

The wind whipped flags on the pool deck and scattered anything that wasn't secured.

The 50m freestyle was especially turbulent. Nathan Adrian won the men's race in 21.69 seconds, third fastest in the world this year. Anthony Ervin, the 34-year-old former Olympic champion, was second in 22.28 and Cullen Jones, 32, finished third in 22.30.

It was Adrian's fourth straight win in the event in the Arena Pro Series this year.

Madison Kennedy took the women's race in 24.45, a lifetime best that made her the third-fastest American all-time in the 50m free. The wind seemingly pushed the swimmers along and made the water even choppier than it usually is in the splash-and-dash event.

"It's a bit distracting," Adrian said. "Dealing with a little adversity at an in-season meet is never a bad thing."

In the women's 200m fly, Cammile Adams won in 2:08.59.

Missy Franklin finished fifth in the 100m backstroke, won by Maya DiRado in 1:00.71. Franklin failed to break a minute, touching in 1:01.28.

David Plummer won the men's 100m back in 54.29 from Ryan Lochte in 55.35.

In other events, BJ Johnson won the 200m breaststroke in 2:14.16; Michael McBroom took the 400m free in 3:49.04; and Breeja Larson led all the way in defending her title in the 200m breaststroke in 2:26.64.


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Source: AAP



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