Multi-Olympic champion Michael Phelps narrowly missed out on a 100metres butterfly world record last night at the Canada Cup in Montreal.
The 23-year-old American, who picked up eight golds in Beijing last year, clocked a personal best of 50.48 seconds at the Olympic Park Pool to miss out on a new global mark by 0.08secs.
Phelps is using the Canada meeting as a final preparation for the US championships, which will serve as trials for next month's world championships in Rome.
He returned to competitive action last month after being banned for three months in February by USA Swimming.
The governing body also withdrew all financial support after a photograph was published of him apparently inhaling from the type of glass pipe often used to smoke cannabis.
