体坛英语新闻：Phelps finishes 5th in 200m butterfly final

BERLIN, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Michael Phelps finished fifth in the 200-meter butterfly Saturday at a short-course World Cup meet here where saw six world records broken.

    Nikolay Skvortsov of Russia, who had the fastest qualifying time, won the final in 1:50.58. Phelps squeezed in as the eighth and last qualifier in the heats.

    The American star, who won eight gold medals at last year's Beijing Olympics, finished in 1 minute, 52.26 seconds in the final.

    Phelps is competing in an old-style swimsuit that will become the standard on Jan. 1 and still has yet to win a race on his European tour.

    Phelps failed to make three finals at another World Cup meet in Stockholm earlier this week. He was second in the 200-meter medley in Sweden.

    While Phelps continues to struggle, German rival Paul Biedermann bounced back from an injury to shatter the 400-meter freestyle world record.

    Biedermann won in 3:32.77 to slash nearly 2 seconds off the old mark of 3:34:58 set by Grant Hackett of Australia on July 18, 2002,in Sydney.

    Phelps has promised to race as hard as he can in the 200m free, although he's seeking his form after taking time off following the worlds.

    The first day of the weekend meet produced a flurry of world records. 19-year-old Shiho Sakai of Japan broke the women's 200 backstroke by finishing in 2:00.18.

    Steffen Deibler of Germany improved his own 50 butterfly mark to 21.80. Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa improved the 50 breaststroke record to 25.25. Leisel Jones of Australia broke her own 100 breaststroke mark with a time of 1:03.30.