Phelps seeking new challenges

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Ian Thorpe won’t be there. But Michael Phelps will.

Without the rivalry, the World Swimming Championships in Montreal won’t have the straw that stirred up world-class waters at the Athens Olympics last summer.

There will be none of the prizefight-like hype that preceded Thorpe’s victory over third-place Phelps in the 200 freestyle, the so-called Race of the Century.

But Olympic rivalries have to start somewhere, and the restless Phelps is offering some intriguing possibilities next week at Montreal in the first major meet since Athens.

“This is an opportunity to get in the water and try some new things, set some things in place, show we know what event program we want to do for the Olympics,” Phelps said in a conference call from the U.S. training camp at the University of Maryland.

Phelps is abandoning at least two events - the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley - in which he would have been a virtual lock to win. He holds the world record in each.

In addition to the 200 freestyle, he instead will attempt the 100 freestyle and 400 freestyle for the first time in a major meet. That sets up a possible confrontation three years from now with Australia’s Thorpe. Thorpe won the 400 in Athens and took bronze in the 100, in his first Olympic attempt in the event.

Thorpe said in Athens that he intends to swim in the 2008 Beijing Games. He, along with several other 2004 Olympians, have decided to skip the World Championships.

But his Aussie teammate, Grant Hackett, will be able to provide an interesting scouting report on Phelps, an eight-time medalist in Athens. Hackett won’t be in the 100 freestyle, but he is among the favorites in the 200 and 400. In Athens, he won silver in the 400 and was fifth in the 200.

The Hackett-Phelps confrontations figure to be the best of the Montreal meet, which begins Sunday.

“I wanted to race Thorpe again in the 200,” said Phelps, who is a student at Michigan, where he trains for his former club coach from Baltimore, Bob Bowman. “I think it will be fun to race Hackett in the 400.”

Phelps is entered in at least seven events. He is the favorite in the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley. He won both in Athens. He also is ticketed for two freestyle relays - the 4×100 and 4×200.

If he beats fellow American Ian Crocker in the 100 butterfly or is the fastest American in the 100 freestyle, he also could wind up on the 400 medley relay. Another eight medals is a distinct possibility.

On the 4×200 freestyle relay, Phelps will be reunited with Klete Keller of Phoenix.

Keller held off Thorpe on the anchor leg of the 4×200 freestyle relay in Athens, giving the United States an upset of the favored Aussies in one of the most dramatic moments of the Olympics. Keller had been a student at Scottsdale Community College before he resumed training in Ann Arbor, Mich., for the World Championships trials.

Other swimmers with Arizona links in Montreal include:

• Nick Brunelli. The former Arizona State All-American, third in the U.S. Olympic trials last summer, will challenge teammate Jason Lezak in the 50 freestyle, which will be without Athens gold medalist Gary Hall Jr., a three-time Olympian from Phoenix who decided to skip Montreal.

• Emily Mason. The Scottsdale swimmer, an NCAA champion at Arizona last year, hopes to contend for a medal in the 200 butterfly.

• Whitney Myers. The versatile UA All-American could wind up with two medals - 200 individual medley and 4×200 freestyle relay.

• Roland Schoeman. The South African, who has been training in Tucson, could be the sprinter Lezak and Brunelli have to beat. He won silver in the 100 freestyle and bronze in the 50 in Athens.

• Ryk Neethling. The former UA distance swimmer, also a South African, proved he could sprint in Athens with a fourth-place finish in the 100 freestyle. But can he and Schoeman hold off Phelps?