Golden double for Australia as Phelps flops
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-25 08:29

The 16-year-old's hopes of winning the title had seemed remote when she scraped into the final in eighth spot and had to swim from the outside lane.

But she set off at a cracking rate, reaching the halfway mark under world record pace, then held on to win a tight finish in 4:06.44 from Japan's Ai Shibata (4:06.74) and British teenager Caitlin McLatchey (4:07.25.)

Phelps quickly recovered from the disappointment of his failure in the 400m to swim the lead-off leg in the relay and give America the edge at the first changeover with a split time of 49.17.

Neil Walker and Nate Dusing then combined to open up a huge lead over the field allowing Jason Lezak to anchor the Americans home in 3:13.77, with host nation Canada grabbing second in 3:16.44 and Australia third in 3:17.56.

"Obviously it's a better swim than this morning," Phelps said.

"I still don't know what happened, maybe I just wasn't ready, but I definitely stepped it up (in the relay)."

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