Phelps preps for U.S. trials with 4 races in Paris
PARIS --- Michael Phelps will swim in four events at the Paris Open this weekend as part of his preparations for the U.S. championships in August.
The 14-time Olympic champion will swim the 100-meter freestyle and 200-meter butterfly on Saturday, and the 200-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley on Sunday.
"Being able to swim four events in two days at the level we're swimming here is really going to test what kind of shape I am in," Phelps said Friday.
The national championships in Irvine, Calif., will determine the American roster for August's Pan Pacific Championships, also in Irvine later in the month, and the 2011 world championships in Shanghai.
"I try to prepare myself as best I can to secure my spot on the world team but also the Pan Pac team this summer," Phelps said.
He will have some stiff competition in the 100 freestyle, with Olympic champion Alain Bernard of France and world champion Cesar Cielo of Brazil also swimming.
"There are a lot of good racers here," Phelps said. "Being able to come over here and compete and have the kind of talent we have here is something I'm looking forward to."
Phelps is competing in France for the first time since 2001. He flew to Paris after training for approximately three weeks in Colorado.
"That was tough. But it's good for me, training wise," Phelps said. "I'm probably in a better shape now. There are a lot of things I can work on between this summer and next summer and then hopefully London (for the 2012 Olympics). It definitely gives us an idea of what needs to be finished and completed before London."
Phelps's coach, Bob Bowman, said Friday that Phelps would probably not make a decision on the events he'll swim at the 2012 Olympics "until the end of next year, after the world championships."
Phelps, who turns 25 at the end of this month, holds the record for the most gold medals in a single Olympics, with eight at the 2008 Beijing Games. He said he will swim fewer events in London.
With 16 Olympic medals in all, Phelps is two behind the most decorated Olympic athlete, former Soviet Union gymnast Larissa Latynina.
Phelps has not decided whether he will take part in the short-course world championships in Dubai in December.
He will also compete once more before the U.S. championships, which run Aug. 3-7.
"We have one more meet at home, locally, right before the trials -- just sort of one day to prepare ourselves," said Phelps, who trains in Baltimore at a club he co-owns with Bowman.