On This Date: 15-Year-Old Michael Phelps Sets First World Record
Twenty years ago, on this date, Michael Phelps became a world-record holder for the first time. That fact was first pointed out by Nick Zaccardi, the superb Olympics writer for NBC Sports. In the years ahead, Phelps would collect 28 medals in Olympic competition, including 23 gold, and would set the bar for excellence in the sport.
But first world records are always special, and Phelps certainly made the one he established in Austin, Texas a memorable standard. Competing in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2001 United States Spring Nationals – which served as the qualifying meet for that summer’s World Championships – Phelps posted a time of 1:54.92, an effort that lowered the previous global mark of 1:55.18, set in 2000 by American Tom Malchow.
In setting his first world record as a 15-year-old, Phelps became the youngest man to break a global standard. He also fulfilled some of the vast potential that was thrust upon his shoulders when he qualified for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The day after Phelps finished fifth in the 200 butterfly at the Sydney Games, his coach, Bob Bowman, handed his student his workout for the day. In the corner, there was a notation: “Austin, WR.” It was Bowman’s way of indicating that the world record was within Phelps’ reach in early 2001.
When Phelps set that initial world record, he set himself up for capturing his first world title a few months later in Fukuoka, Japan. It also marked a stretch in which Phelps held the world record for 18 consecutive years, a run that did not end until Hungarian rising star Kristof Milak clocked 1:50.73 at the 2019 World Championships.
For his career, Phelps set 39 world records, including eight in the 200 butterfly.