Many commentators believed that the heats and semi-finals were taken comfortably by American Michael Phelps as he qualified fourth fastest for Tuesday’s 200m freestyle final to be held at the National Aquatic Centre in Beijing.

Phelps finished third in the second semi-final to comfortably qualify in a time of 1:46.28, almost 2.5 seconds shy of the world record he set in March 2007.

The fastest qualifier for the event is fellow American Peter Vanderkaay, who will swim from lane four after winning his semi final in the time of 1:45.76.

Korean Taewhan Park set an Asian record to qualify second fastest for the final in a time of 1:45.99.

Should Phelps win, the American will increase his likelihood of winning a record eight gold medals in one Olympic meet. The record currently stands at seven, and was set by Mark Spitz in Munich.

Phelps also won gold today after the USA men’s team eclipsed the world record in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay. (Click here for more info on that story)

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Tags: beijing olympics, sport, swimming