Phelps splashes back with another world record

ROME — Now that's more like it. Michael Phelps bounced back from a stunning loss with something more familiar — another world record Wednesday.

One night after he was soundly beaten by Germany's Paul Biedermann, Phelps set a world record in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1 minute, 51.51 seconds — more than a half-second ahead of his previous mark, 1:52.03.

Phelps whipped around quickly to see his time and held up his right index finger when the "WR" was posted. And just like in Beijing, he has taken down another of Mark Spitz's standards, this time with the 34th world record of his career — one more than Spitz had during his brilliant run in the pool.

"I wanted to step on it in the first 100 to get out there in the clean water, and that's pretty much what happened," Phelps said. "It was a lot more pain last night than tonight."

There couldn't have been a more appropriate place for Phelps to add another record to his resume. Shortly after he climbed from the pool, Italy's Federica Pellegrini sent the home crowd into a frenzy when she set the 20th world mark of the 4-day-old meet in the 200 freestyle.

Before the night was done, South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh broke the mark he set in the semifinals to win the 50 breaststroke and China's Zhang Lin took down Grant Hackett's 4-year-old 800 free by more than six seconds, with Tunisia's Ous Mellouli also going under the old mark but only getting silver. Both are non-Olympic events.

Earlier, Germany's Daniela Samulski and Russia's Anastasia Zueva got things rolling by setting records in consecutive semifinal heats of the 50 backstroke, another event not on the Olympic program. And let's not forget American Mary Descenza, who took more than three seconds off her personal best to swim the fastest women's 200 butterfly ever — in the preliminaries, no less.

For those who've lost count, that's 22 records in Rome, hardly living up to its label as the Eternal City. Nothing is sacred in these high-tech bodysuits, which have already helped surpass the 15 records set at the last worlds in Melbourne two years ago, with four days still to go.

Phelps couldn't wait to get on the podium to collect his first individual title at the Foro Italico. While his name was being announced in English and Italian, he stood impatiently with his right foot already on the stand.

Finally, he hopped up to the highest rung, thrust both arms in the air with a defiant look that melted into a crooked smile. He was back on top.