SwimNews.com - Craig Lord: 200 'Fly: 2005 Champ Leads 2007 Champ

For more SwimNews coverage of this special event, click here: ROMA 2009 - 13th FINA World Championships

200 'Fly: 2005 Champ Leads 2007 Champ

Jul 28, 2009 - Craig Lord

Rome 2009, Day 3

Men's 200m butterfly heats

Pawel Korneniowski (POL), world champion in the 200m butterfly in 2005 when Michael Phelps (USA) has a post-Athens Olympics fallow years, went through fastest from heats of the 200m butterfly in 1:54.33.

Phelps, Olympic champion and world record holder, and teammate Tyler Clary were next through on 1:54.35 and 1:54.42, with Sebastien Rousseau (RSA) and Kaio Almeida (BRA) the other two inside 1:55. In Melbourne 2007, it took a 1:55.13 to win silver behind Phelps in the world titles final.

Here's how the two newest dangers in the 200m 'fly stack up so far:

Clary: 1:54.42 - in 2006 as a 17-year-old he clocked 2:02.08. Until this year, no improvement showed up in world rankings. This year, Clary clocked 2:01.74 in May; 1:57.47 in June; and 1:53.64 at US trials last month when able to wear a shiniest of suits rested and ready for the first time. At 15, Michael Phelps held the world record at 1:54.92. Since then, he has improved to a 1:52.03, his winning time in Beijing in a LZR and with water in his goggles.
Rousseau: 1:54.51 - 1:58.03 best in 2008

The suit-driven Rome heats were blistering as far as comparing the chalk and cheese of 2007 and 2009:

Rome 2009:

Top 16 through: 1:54.33 - 1:56.75
Inside 1:55: 5
Inside 1:56: 10
Inside 1:57: 17
Inside 1:58: 28

And in the time of Dinosaurs:

Melbourne 2007:

Top 16 through: 1:55.78 - 1:57.93
Inside 1:55: 0
Inside 1:56: 1
Inside 1:57: 4
Inside 1:58: 17

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