List of swimmers who have clocked faster times than Michael Phelps ft. Caeleb Dressel, Leon Merchand

Michael Phelps broke an astonishing 69 world records in his career. However, eight years after his retirement in 2016, only four of his records stand, such is the rapid growth in swimming. However, no one has come close to his medals tally.

Phelps swam in several events, but his premier competitions were the 100m and 200m butterfly and the 100m and 200m individual medley events. Following his retirement, several swimmers have clocked faster timings than him. Let's take a look at each one of those per event, both in long and short-course events.

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Swimmers who clocked faster timings than Michael Phelps

Long-course events

#200m freestyle- Paul Biderman

Michael Phelps clocked a best of 1:42.96 in the 200m freestyle in his career. However, it has also been bettered by several swimmers, the fastest in the discipline being Paul Biderman in 1:42.00.

#100m butterfly- Caeleb Dressel

Michael Phelps held the world record in the event after clocking a blistering 49.82 in 2009. However, the world record in the event is currently held by Caeleb Dressel who has managed to clock 49.45.

#200m butterfly- Kristof Milak

200m butterfly was also among Phelps' premier events, in which he held the world record with a best time of 1:51.51. However, it has since been bettered by several athletes, with the world record currently held by Kristof Milak, who clocked 1:50.34.

#200m medley- Ryan Lochte

Phelps, the 23-time Olympic champion holds a best of 1:54.16 in the event. Only one swimmer has gone faster than him in the event, with Ryan Lochte holding the world record thanks to a timing of 1:54.00.

#400m medley- Leon Marchand

400m medley was Phelps’ premier event, and he held the world record in the event for a long time with a timing of 4:03.84. However, that time has been bettered by the French prodigy Leon Marchand who holds the world record in 4:02.50.

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Short-course events

#200m freestyle- Paul Biderman

Michael Phelps has a best of 1:42.78 in the 200m freestyle. However, his time has been bettered by several athletes with Paul Biderman at the top of the table with a timing of 1:39.37.

#100m butterfly- Caeleb Dressel

Phelps has a lifetime best of 51.06 in the 100m butterfly. However, it is significantly slower compared to Caeleb Dressel’s world record in the event which stands at 47.78.

#200m butterfly-Tomoru Honda

The Baltimore Bullet clocked a 1:52.26 in his best 200m butterfly race. However, that falls significantly short of the current world record of 1:46.85 set by China's Tomoru Honda.

#200m medley-Ryan Lochte

Phelps holds a best of 1:51.89 in the event. Several swimmers have gone faster than him with Ryan Lochte holding the world record with a timing of 1:49.63.

#400m medley-Daiya Seto

Michael Phelps clocked a lifetime best of 4:01.49 in the 400m medley at the Swimming World Cup 2011. The current world record in the event is 3:54.81 held by Daiya Seto of Japan.