Phelps, Lochte tip records in Shanghai

Australia: Swim star Michael Phelps on Friday was confident records will fall at the Shanghai world championships despite a ban on the high-tech suits which propelled a series of super-fast times.

Polyurethane-clad swimmers broke an astounding 43 world records at the 2009 championships in Rome, leading to speculation that some of the marks may never be bettered.

But Phelps and team-mate Ryan Lochte, preparing for the event at Australia’s Gold Coast with the rest of the US team, said it was only a matter of time before the super-suit records began to fall, starting in Shanghai.

“You see people doing stuff now both in and out of the pool, preparing themselves better, to work on the small things that do end up making a big difference,” multiple world record-holder Phelps said.

“With us not having the suits we need to be in a lot better physical shape.

“I really do think there will be world records swum this meet. It’s not something that’s impossible.

“Everyone says records are made to be broken and there are a lot of hungry people out there.

“There are a lot of people swimming faster than they did in the suit. There are a lot of newer names that are swimming faster.

“I wouldn’t doubt there will be a couple of world records broken at this meet, and it will be interesting to see which ones they are.”

Lochte agreed with Phelps’ opinion that records will fall in Shanghai, the first long-course world championships since the controversial suits were banned at the start of last year.

“Records are meant to be broken, it doesn’t matter what kind of suit you are in,” said Lochte, who is tipped to set a new 200m individual medley mark. “I could see definitely a couple of world records going down.”