With fifth Olympics booked, Phelps aims to be faster in Rio

Michael Phelps prepares to compete in the preliminary round of the men’s 200-meter breaststroke at the the U.S. swimming nationals, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Michael Phelps seized another slice of Olympic history just by qualifying for a fifth Games. Now swimming’s undisputed superstar has just weeks to find the speed to make Rio a golden farewell.

“I came into these trials wanting to make my fifth Olympic team, and I did that,” said Phelps, who will be the first US man to swim in five Olympics.

But making the team was just the first part of the job for the man whose record 22 Olympic medals include a stunning 18 gold.

“I know if I want to be anywhere on the podium, some of those times are going to have to be a lot faster,” said Phelps, who won the 100m and 200m butterfly and 200m medley in Omaha but didn’t display the dazzling form he showed at the US championships in San Antonio last August — when he posted the top times of 2015 in all three events.

“Sure it’s frustrating to not be able to go the same time or faster than I did last year, especially because I think I’m in better shape than I was last year,” Phelps said. “But I believe I can (in Rio).”

The trials were an emotional experience for Phelps — his last meeting in a US pool and his first with two-month-old son Boomer in attendance — in the arms of Phelps’s fiancee, Nicole Johnson.

He’ll arrive in Rio chasing the world’s top-ranked swimmers in each of his individual events — Japan’s Kosuke Hagino in the 200m medley and Hungarian Laszlo Cseh in the 100m and 200m butterfly.

Phelps will be seeking his fourth straight Olympic golds in both the 200m medley and 100m fly.

The only Olympians to win four consecutive titles in the same individual event are athletes Al Oerter in the discus (1956-68) and Carl Lewis in the long jump (1984-96).

In the 200m fly, Phelps will be out to avenge his loss to South Africa’s Chad le Clos in London.

Magic hands

The 31-year-old still boasts an uncanny ability to get his hand to the final wall first — coming from behind in lane seven to edge Tom Shields in the 100m fly in Omaha and once again holding off old foe Ryan Lochte to win the 200m medley.

“It’s all about who has the magic hands on that day, which he has had a lot of times,” Shields said.

Phelps cited a litany of technical details to be tidied up before Rio, including poor turns and ill-timed finishes.

He was hurting after Friday night’s 200m medley final and 100m fly semi, the kind of double he pulled off with regularity in winning eight gold medals in Beijing.

But Phelps voiced confidence in longtime coach Bob Bowman’s ability to bring him to peak form before the swimming competition kicks off in Rio on August 6.

“If he doesn’t I’ve got to fire him,” Phelps quipped.

“We have a couple of weeks,” said Phelps, who was slated to return home to Arizona before heading to the US team’s July 11-21 training camp in San Antonio and the team’s final pre-Rio training stop in Atlanta.

“I’m sure he has already come up with some kind of plan to figure out what we’re going to do to move forward,” Phelps said of Bowman. “I’m looking forward to that because I want to swim faster times than this to end my career.

“It has been 2009 since I’ve done a best time, and I think it would be kind of fun to do one before I retire.”