With only five days to go until the World Championships begin in the pool in Rome, we get back to Michael Phelps. Even with his reduced program from the Olympics, he still has twelve races (as opposed to the 17 in both Athens and Beijing). He has something unheard of in any major meet in the last seven years: in the middle, a day off! Unless he fails to advance out of an early heat or there is an upset, this should be his program of events.
Sunday, July 26
Morning: Off
Evening: 4x100 Free Relay Final
Monday, July 27
Morning: 200 Free Prelims
Evening: 200 Free Semi-Final
Tuesday, July 28
Morning: 200 Fly Prelims
Evening: 200 Free Final, 200 Fly Semi-Final
Wednesday, July 29
Morning: Off
Evening: 200 Fly Final
Thursday, July 30
Morning: Off
Evening: Off
Friday, July 31
Morning: 100 Fly Prelims
Evening: 100 Fly Semi-Final, 4x200 Free Relay Final
Saturday, August 1
Morning: Off
Evening: 100 Fly Final
Sunday, August 2
Morning: Off
Evening: 4x100 Medley Relay Final
Unlike in Beijing, there are only two sessions where he swims twice. He has the 200 free final and 200 fly semi-final in the same session, but he will have probably an hour and a half between swims, as every event other than the women's 100 breast (including the women's 1,500) is between those two swims.
His other double will be tougher. He only has the semis of the women's 200 back and the final of the men's 200 breast between his 100 fly semi and 4x200 free relay final on July 31. Hopefully, it won't be much of a problem, allowing him to cruise into the fly final and still have enough left to throw down a good 200 free in a relay where the Americans are the heavy favorites.
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