S. Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan secures first win over Phelps

Published : Jun 18, 2011 - 13:39 Updated : Jun 18, 2011 - 13:39

South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan beat American great Michael Phelps for the first time in a California meet on Saturday.

   Park finished first in the men's 100-meter freestyle final of
the Santa Clara International Grand Prix in California with a
record time of 48.92 seconds.

   The 21-year-old defeated Phelps who touched in 49.61 seconds.
Graeme Moore of the United States came in third at 49.70 seconds.

   Seoul swimming officials have said the race will be Park's
tune-up meet before the FINA World Aquatics Championships in July
in Shanghai, China. Park's time, however, was only 0.22 seconds
behind his personal record of 48.70 seconds set at last year's
Guangzhou Asian Games.

   In the men's 400-meter freestyle final that closely followed,
Park also won with a comfortable victory, touching in 3 minutes and
44.99 seconds.

   He was more than five seconds faster than the runner-up,
Canada's Ryan Cochrane.

   Park is set to race in the men's 200-meter and 50-meter
freestyle events on Sunday and the men's 200-meter mixed style on
Monday, the last day of the meet. (Yonhap News)