Not content with gold, Phelps stalks Spitz

Three finals, three gold medals, three world records. Michael Phelps is not just going for Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds, he seems intent on winning all his races in world-record time, as Spitz did in 1972.

Phelps won the 200-metre freestyle on Tuesday morning at the Water Cube, obliterating the field and his year-old world record in the process. He was timed in 1 minute 42.96 seconds, 0.90 of a second better than his previous personal best. Park TaeHwan was second, in 1:44.85, and Phelps’s teammate, Peter Vanderkaay, the top qualifier in the semifinals, was third in 1:45.14.

It was Phelps’s 17th victory in 19 finals in the event since his third-place showing at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. One of Phelps’s two defeats came to Peter Vanderkaay in April, but the world was not watching then. When the pressure is on, Phelps seems to turn it on. He smashed his world record in the 400m individual medley on Sunday and set an American record on his lead off 100m in the Americans’ 4x100 freestyle relay on Monday.

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Gilly's Danda Powers Bull Run

After lying low for three matches, the Deccan Chargers came out in full force on Sunday to maul Mumbai Indians and record their first win of the IPL tournament at the D.Y. Patil Stadium here.

After restricting the home side to a modest 154, the Chargers made mockery of the Mumbai total courtesy Adam Gilchrist’s savage 47-ball 109 not out to overhaul the target in just 12 overs without losing a wicket. The win took DC from eighth to sixth on the points table, which has Bangalore and Mumbai languishing at the bottom.

Gilchrist exploded like a dynamite, cracking 10 soaring sixes and nine boundaries to batter the Mumbai bowlers, in the process recording the fastest century in Twenty20 cricket (42 balls). The previous fastest hundred, off 47 balls, was set by Gilly’s teammate Andrew Symonds during the Chargers’ last game against Rajasthan Royals at home last week.

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