Phelps, Schipper break world records at Pan Pacs

Friday, August 18th 2006, 8:50 am

By: News On 6

VICTORIA, British Columbia (AP) _ Michael Phelps set a world record for the first time since 2004, lowering his own mark in the 200-meter butterfly at the Pan Pacific Championships.

It was the second world record of the night program Thursday, following soon after Australia's Jessica Schipper lowered the mark in the women's 200 butterfly.

Phelps came from behind on the final lap to win in 1 minute, 53.80 seconds. His old mark of 1:53.93 came at the 2003 world championships in Barcelona, Spain, a prelude to the Athens Olympics, when he won eight medals, including six gold.

Phelps was under world record pace by 0.16 seconds after the opening 50 meters, but he fell off it as Ryuichi Shibata of Japan overtook him and led the next two laps.

Known for his finishing strength, Phelps roared back in the closing strokes to win by 2.02 seconds.

``This is probably the happiest I've been with my swimming since Athens,'' he said. ``It was a pretty special moment for me.''

Shibata was second in 1:55.82 and Takeshi Matsuda of Japan was third in 1:56.20.

``When the crowd is cheering, you can always tell that something good is happening,'' he said. ``I heard it coming off the last wall especially and I tried to do a good kickout and build momentum in the last 50.''

Phelps had deliberately skipped the 200 freestyle earlier Thursday to conserve his energy for the fly. It paid off with his first world record since winning the 400 individual medley in Athens.

``We really wanted to focus on the 200 fly and try to get the meet started off on a good note,'' he said.

So did Schipper.

About 10 minutes before Phelps dived in, Schipper won the women's 200 fly in 2:05.40.

That bettered the world mark of 2:05.61 set by Otylia Jedrzejczak of Poland at last year's world championships in Montreal.

``I heard the announcer for the first time and the whole crowd went wild and I thought, `Oh, I must be doing all right,''' Schipper said. ``I've been training for this since August last year and I just can't believe it's finally happened.''

Yuko Nakanishi of Japan was second in 2:06.52, and teammate Yurie Yano was third.

The United States and Japan were tied atop the medal standings with eight each after one night of competition.

But the Americans won a leading five gold, capped by Kate Ziegler's victory in the 1,500 freestyle. Her time of 15:55.01 bettered the championship mark of 16:04.84 set by Hayley Lewis of Australia in 1992.

Hayley Peirsol, younger sister of 100 backstroke winner Aaron Peirsol, was second.

Japan had one gold, three silver and four bronze. Australia earned a gold, silver and bronze.

The evening's only upset came in the 100 backstroke, with Hanae Ito of Japan beating world record-holder Natalie Coughlin of the United States.

Coughlin, the only woman to go under 1-minute in the event, led after 50 meters. But Ito and teammate Reiko Nakamura were bearing down on her, and the three women were almost evenly matched approaching the wall.

Ito barely outtouched Coughlin to win in 1:00.63.

Coughlin was timed in 1:00.66 and Nakamura finished third in 1:00.86.

``I swam faster than that in every race this summer, including this morning, so I don't really know what it is, but it wasn't good,'' Coughlin said. ``I was playing with my stroke a little bit during warmups and it didn't work to my benefit.''

Coughlin won the 100 back at the 2002 Pan Pacs in Japan, and earned a gold medal in Athens. Her world mark, set in 2002, is 59.58.

Aaron Peirsol has been equally as dominant in the men's 100 back in recent years. He won easily in 53.32, breaking the championship record of 53.60 set by Lenny Krayzelburg in 1999.

American Klete Keller took advantage of Phelps' absence to win the 200 freestyle.

Keller took the lead after 100 meters and closed nearly a body length ahead of South Korean Park Tae-hwan. Keller touched in 1:46.20. Zhang Lin, one of 13 Chinese swimmers competing this week, was third.

Katie Hoff, a 17-year-old from Phelps' home club in North Baltimore, won the women's 200 freestyle in 1:58.02.

``I felt really good the whole race and to start off on a best time on the first day of the meet gives me a lot of confidence,'' she said.

Linda Mackenzie of Australia was second and countrywoman Bronte Barratt third.

Andrew Hurd gave the red-clad Canadian crowd something to cheer in the evening's first race, winning the 800 freestyle in 7:55.88, a national record.