Phelps makes it 3-for-3 at US tilt

SAN ANTONIO – Having established himself as the shadow world champion in three events, Michael Phelps pondered the last time he felt this good.

He quickly pointed to the year leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he broke one of the greatest records in sports.

It looks as if he’s headed for another massive medal haul in Rio.

Phelps made it 3-for-3 at the US national championships Sunday night, winning the 200-meter individual medley with yet another time that would have been good enough for a world title if he had been allowed to compete at the biggest meet outside the Olympics.

On the heels of brilliant performances in the 100 and 200 butterfly, Phelps set himself up as the favorite in all three races looking toward Rio.

“I’m very happy where I am right now,” he said. “This is a great foundation. This is a place we really haven’t been in a long time leading up to an Olympics. I definitely wasn’t like this leading up to 2012. It’s probably been since 2007 that it’s been like this. I can sit here and argue with you that 2007 is probably the best year of my career. It’s probably the last time I had three events like this back to back to back.”

Phelps was under world-record pace through the first three laps of the medley – fly, backstroke, breaststroke – but he struggled a bit on the freestyle leg to touch in one minute, 54.75 seconds - 0.75 off the mark set in 2011 by American rival Ryan Lochte.

Still, it was more than a second faster than Lochte’s winning time of 1:55.81 at the world championships, held in Kazan, Russia, over the past two weeks.

Phelps, of course, wasn’t allowed to compete at worlds this year.

He was kicked off the US team after his second drunken-driving arrest last September, leading Phelps to swear off alcohol and take a good, hard look at himself during six weeks of inpatient therapy in Arizona. He emerged with what he said was a new outlook on life and a commitment to put in the sort of training that marked the peak of his career, when he was driven to break Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old Olympic record by winning eight gold medals in Beijing.

With an embarrassing string of problems outside the pool, Phelps still must prove to his skeptics that he’s a changed man.

There are no longer any doubts about what he can do in the water at age 30.

“I’m pumped,” he said. “Being able to do that right now, I’m very, very pleased. It’s something great to build from.”