18 May,2009 09:25 AM IST | | AFP
France's Frederick Bousquet beat Beijing Olympic hero Michael Phelps in a 100-meter freestyle final yesterday at the Charlotte UltraSwim, delivering the US star's second loss in a row.
Bousquet, in his first meet since setting a 50m free world record last month, seized the lead at the start and won the showdown in 48.22 seconds with Phelps runner-up in 49.04 and US Olympian Ricky Berens third in 49.66.
"When you race that guy, you can't count on your back-end speed to beat him," Bousquet said. "I had to use my strength, my speed, and go out as fast as I could - 22.08 was not too bad going out.
"We came back at the same speed in the second 50. That's good for me. I'm happy with it."
Phelps, who had not lost a final in a year until world record holder and Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol beat him in the 100 back on Saturday, suffered his second finals defeat in a row after 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly victories on Friday.
"I need to have some of Fred's front-end 50 speed," Phelps said. "Fred is swimming really awesome."
Phelps, upset at making an extra stroke at the turn and another at the end, used his new straight-arm sprint stroke for 25 meters to the turn, switched to his usual stroke to approach Bousquet, then finished with the windmill stroke.
"The biggest thing I'm upset about was my turn and my finish were awful," Phelps said. "I'm kind of mad at myself because I wanted to break 49. To be .05 off with two stupid mistakes, it's frustrating.
"I usually don't mess up the little things like that. I have to go back and focus. It's a lot of small things I need to fix. There are some things I'm still perfecting. Before long I'll be able to do it for a whole 100."
Twin losses in his first meet since taking a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics will send Phelps into three weeks of high-altitude training at Colorado with new inspiration to work on his new stroke.
