Phelps wins sixth gold medal at aquatic worlds

Michael Phelps stayed on track for a record gold-medal haul at the world championships, edging American teammate Ian Crocker by 0.05 seconds to win the 100-metre butterfly Saturday.

Phelps is 6-for-6 with two races remaining. His latest gold tied Australian Ian Thorpe's record from the 2001 worlds in Japan.

But Phelps failed to set a world record for the first time in five nights.

"I'm definitely starting to feel it [fatigue]," he said. "I've got to get some food and some sleep, and hopefully tomorrow I'll run off adrenaline. I need to come back and do two solid races."

Australia's women beat the United States in the 400 medley relay and lowered their world record, too. Emily Seebohm, Leisel Jones, Jess Schipper and Libby Lenton touched in 3:55.74, bettering the old mark of 3:56.30 at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne last March.

Americans Natalie Coughlin, Tara Kirk, Rachel Komisarz and Lacey Nymeyer took the silver in 3:58.31 the country's fourth consecutive runner-up finish.

China earned the bronze in 4:01.97.

Notable Canadian finishes on Saturday included100 freestyle champion Brent Hayden of Mission, B.C., who finished eighth in the 50 freestyle final.

Canada also placed 11th in the morning preliminaries for the women's 400 medley to qualify for next year's Olympics. The Canadian swimmers included Erica Morningstar of Calgary, Julia Wilkinson of Stratford, Ont., Kelly Stefanyshyn of Winnipeg and MacKenzie Downing of Whitehorse.

Morningstar swam the 10th fastest time in the 50 freestyle preliminaries in 25.54, just 0.02 off the Canadian record held by Montreal's Victoria Poon. Morningstar later placed 16th in the semifinals and was eliminated.

Poon was eliminated in the prelims.

Americans dominate

It was another dominating night for the United States.

The Americans won four of the six finals, including 1-2 finishes in the men's 100 fly and men's 50 freestyle. They lead with31 medals, including 17 gold, with one night remaining. Australia is a distant second with 17 medals and seven golds.

As the two-time defending champion and world record holder, Crocker was the one guy who could've stopped Phelps's gold rush. But it didn't happen.

Crocker was first at the turn, with Phelps third the first time in four individual races that he didn't zoom to the lead. But he came home hard.

"Ian has more speed than I do. I know that he goes out hard and I wanted to close that gap," Phelps said.

Furious strokes

He caught Crocker in the final furious strokes touching in 50.77 seconds and joining his rival as the only men to break the 51-second barrier. Crocker hit the wall in 50.82. Albert Subirats of Venezuela took the bronze.

"It's never quite the race you want," Crocker said.

Phelps had never beaten Crocker at worlds taking silver behind him in 2003 and 2005. In between, Phelps denied Olympic gold to Crocker in Athens by four-hundredths of a second.

"That's how I won the Olympic medal," Phelps said. "You have to nail the finish as best you can. I actually thought I botched the finish, but it ended up being good enough."

Crocker swam over to Phelps in lane six and shook his hand. On the podium later, Crocker looked a bit glum while accepting the silver medal.

Phelps had a grin plastered on his face during yet another victory stroll as Christina Aguilara's Ain't No Other Man blared. He whipped a stuffed penguin into the stands where a young woman excitedly scooped it up.