Phelps rules out Beijing 1500m

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DISTANCE king Grant Hackett will be safe from a challenge from the acquisitive Michael Phelps in the 1500 metres freestyle at the Beijing Olympics, but he will be one of the few.

After winning a record eight medals at last year’s Olympics, the supremely versatile Phelps will turn his attention to a substantially different freestyle-dominated program at the Montreal world championships, which start on Monday (AEST).

And neither Phelps nor his coach Bob Bowman will rule out contesting any of those events in Beijing.

That means Phelps could bump heads with Ian Thorpe in the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle, in what would be the heavyweight contest of the next Olympics.

The Americans revealed they would use the Montreal championships as a guide to deciding which events they should target for the next three years.

Asked what events they would rule out definitely for Beijing, Bowman joked: “I am thinking about the 1500m - that should make some headlines in Australia.

“No, there will be no 50 (freestyle) and no 1500. I would say the breaststrokers of the world are safe, but everything else is fair game.”

The clashes between Hackett and Phelps in the 200m and 400m freestyle in Montreal shape as the feature events of the week.

But Phelps said he would not commit to a freestyle-based schedule for the long term until he had experienced it in Montreal.

“This is an opportunity to get in the water and try some new things, and set some things in place so we know what event program we want to do for the Olympics,” he said.

Bowman said he would learn a lot about Phelps’ potential in the freestyle events from his performances next week.

“I really feel like this meet is going to give us a true picture of where Michael is fitness-wise, because you don’t get many opportunities to try that many events. Then I can make a decision on how to move forward.”

Phelps has not contested the 100m or the 400m freestyle at a major championship before but is not lacking in confidence for either event. He is far less experienced over 400m than Hackett, the second-fastest man in history over the distance, but that does not daunt the 20-year-old American.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said of their first-night showdown. “It’s going to be a fun race. It’s going to be exciting. I am as prepared as I can be right now. I am going to try to race as well as I can, but Grant is a very good competitor, a very challenging competitor.”

Phelps confessed that one of the reasons he had taken on the freestyle program this year was for the opportunity to race Thorpe, but that ambition was stymied when Thorpe elected not to compete.

“I wanted to race Thorpe in the 200, and I think it will be fun to race Hackett in the 400,” he said.

He said everyone was disappointed that Thorpe was not there, but he understood that the Australian had his reasons.