Phelps continues the assault

One of the things I really hope to accomplish here is to share some of my excitement for several sports that I believe don't get the credit that they deserve from the general population. Of course, if you know me, you'll know that I'm referring to cycling, triathlon, and (as with this post) swimming.

In case you missed it--and most people probably did--Michael Phelps broke yet another World Record yesterday at the FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. He won the 200 Free in a time of 1:43.86, making him the first person ever to swim the event in under 1:44, a pretty remarkable barrier.

What makes this worth mentioning is that Phelps is once again targeting Mark Spitz's all-time record of 7 gold medals for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. If you recall, at the 2004 Games, Phelps' lost his bid for the record by finishing third in what has been called the "Race of The Century" between Ian Thorpe, Pieter van den Hoogenband, and Phelps. This race was a "rematch" of that event, without Thorpe who has retired (at 24 it must be nice). This puts Phelps in position to claim 8 golds at the World Championships. (He's already won one gold as a member of the 4x100 Free Relay).

His remaining events are the 100 and 200 Fly, 200 and 400 IM, 4x200 Free Relay, and 4x100 Medley Relay. Keep posted on FINA's website