China moved to within just one victory of a historic diving clean sweep Saturday, as US great Michael Phelps said he was determined to go out with a bang in his final year of swimming. Wu’s first individual world title — just months after the retirement of her former partner, “diving queen” Guo Jingjing — means the pressure will fall on Qiu Bo to complete the first ever 10-medal haul in Sunday’s men’s 10m final.
But Qiu looked in sublime form as he led the semi-finals by nearly 80 points, with British reigning champion Tom Daley well back in sixth, and will be hot favourite to put the final seal on China’s total dominance. Phelps, who has 14 Olympic titles, admitted it would be “really weird to hang up the suit” but said he was hoping to write a final, magnificent chapter — starting with the Shanghai swimming events from Sunday.
“I am excited for the next year and I’m excited to move on and try some other things but also at the same point I think it’s going to be really weird to hang up the suit,” he said. “Just thinking about all the memories that you’ve gone through and experiences that we’ve had and pools we’ve been to, countries we’ve been to, so I think that was kind of hard to think about.
“I thought about that a lot a month or two ago and it’s just strange for me to think about, but I know that I’ve got a year left and it’s going to be a good year. I’m excited for it and I’ll have fun.” Phelps admitted he had been “lazy” in recent years, culminating in a series of shock losses. But Phelps and his coach Bob Bowman both said training was going well despite condensing a year’s work into the past nine months.
“I think we’re now in the best place we can be with everything that’s happened. I feel good in the water and ready to compete, kind of tired of waiting around,” the 26-year-old said. “I’m in a lot better shape than I was last year. I don’t think I’m in the same ballpark as I was last year,” he added. Elsewhere, soaring temperatures prompted angry complaints and a swathe of withdrawals from the gruelling 25km marathon swim, which is in the safety spotlight after the death of a top athlete.
More than 20 swimmers did not finish the race and some were carried away on stretchers as water temperatures hit 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit), above the limit considered safe by America’s open water commission. “I just want to have a rest, waiting for some water and ice,” said Bulgaria’s Petar Stoychev, who won the men’s race in 5hr 10min 39.8sec.
“The organisation of Shanghai is brilliant, it’s really well prepared. However, I don’t like the heat here, the weather is not for me.” In synchronised swimming, Russia completed a magnificent run of seven out of seven titles as they won the team free routine, led by “synchro queen” Natalia Ishchenko — who finished with a personal haul of six gold medals.