Michael Phelps led an American gold rush at the world swimming championships yesterday with victory in the men's 200 metres freestyle.
Phelps collected his second title of the championships with a hrilling win in the four-lap race while Aaron Peirsol and Kate Ziegler also struck it rich for the US.
Peirsol was untroubled in retaining his 100m backstroke crown while Ziegler slashed more than 10 seconds off her personal best to win the 1500m freestyle, the longest event on the programme.
But the spotlight once again fell on Phelps and his belated showdown with Australia's Grant Hackett.
The pair were expected to lock horns in Sunday's 400m final but Phelps bombed out in the heats, ruining his chances of winning a record eight gold medals and allowing Hackett to take the title almost unchallenged.
Phelps made amends for his 400m flop by winning a relay gold on Sunday night then resurfaced last night to win the 200m final in a time of one minute 45.20 seconds.
"Everything here has been a big learning experience for me," Phelps said. "Everything that's happened hopefully will help me on the road to Beijing."
Hackett, who had to swim the 800m heats earlier in the day, took the silver in 1:46.14 while South African Ryk Neethling finished third after leading the field through the first lap under world record pace.
Hackett's second placing provided him with his 14th medal at the world championships, a record career tally for any swimmer, but he said the plaudits belonged to Phelps.
"You can't take away from his performance," the Australian law student said. "He's a class act and it's good to see Michael back on top again."
