Michael Phelps upset in world championships

ROME — Down goes Phelps.

It was bound to happen some day to Michael Phelps. But not this way and not in this race and certainly not at the hands of a relatively anonymous German swimmer with an exceedingly modest resume.

Paul Biedermann shed his anonymity only days ago when he broke a vaunted world record in the 400-meter freestyle. On Tuesday, he shed Phelps, handing the swim icon his first loss in about four years in an individual event at a major international meet.

This time, Phelps found himself left behind in Biedermann's wake at the world championships Tuesday at the Foro Italico sports complex. Biedermann beat Phelps by 1.22 seconds, taking away his world record in the 200-meter freestyle.

Biedermann went 1 minute 42 seconds, and Phelps was second in 1:43.22. Last summer, Phelps won this race in a world-record 1:42.96 at the Olympics in Beijing and Biedermann was sixth in 1:46.

"Deep down inside, I can't be mad," said Phelps, who looked exactly that way immediately after the loss. "I can't be disappointed. Paul swam a great race. He split that 200 free pretty much perfect. I didn't have anything in the last 50. And when he pulled away from me, I kind of got left pretty quick."

Phelps was asked the obvious question: Was he beaten by the man or the suit?

"The swimmer," said Phelps, who is almost old-school in still wearing Speedo's LZR Racer.

Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, wasn't so sure.

"I don't want to put him in this situation again," he said of Phelps. "I want swimming to go back to racing on a level playing field. I want it to happen as soon as possible. And the move to do it in April in unacceptable. It needs to happen Jan. 1, if not next Monday."

Biedermann, who is wearing the controversial high-tech suit made by the Italian company Arena, has dropped six seconds in the 200 freestyle since 2007, mirroring his progress in the 400 freestyle. On Sunday, he served notice he would threaten Phelps by winning the 400 freestyle and breaking Ian Thorpe's long-held world record in that event.

"I hope there will be a time I can beat Michael Phelps without the suit, of course," Biedermann said. "And I hope it will be the next year or the next two years. But it's not all about the suit.

"It's not my problem," he added. "It's not the problem of Arena, my sponsor. It's the problem of FINA. They should handle it really fast. I hope just before 2010."