MESA, Ariz. -- Michael Phelps tied the fourth-fastest time in the world this year swimming the 100-meter butterfly in his first competition in nearly two years. His comeback has gotten off to a strong start albeit with a much different approach than he took in winning 22 medals over three Olympics. After a 20-month retirement, Phelps resumed training last September with his longtime coach Bob Bowman at the North Baltimore Aquatic Center in his hometown. But he didnt pick up the grueling regimen that had ruled his life since he was a teenager. Phelps has slowly started back and now trains just once a day in the afternoon. No double or triple sessions or plowing through thousands of meters a day. Call this comeback Phelps 2.0. While his workload will go up eventually, for now Phelps is doing half the amount of training he did during the height of career, when he won a record eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "Im sort of experimenting with stuff that I didnt have the guts to do before, like not swim as far," Bowman said. "Im very pleased with how hes doing." This relaxed approach appears to suit both Phelps and Bowman just fine. Their decades-long partnership -- rare in a sport where swimmers frequently change coaches -- survived fiery clashes as Phelps grew up and rebelled against Bowmans hard-nosed ways. "Our last several years together, it really wasnt much fun for everybody," the coach said. Without committing to specifics, Phelps seems intent on swimming fewer events and shorter races this time around. He turns 29 in June, and as the most decorated Olympian in history, his place in the record books is secure. "Im not putting any pressure on myself," he said. "Im just enjoying myself right now." At the Arena Grand Prix meet in Mesa, he competed in just two events -- the 100 fly (he finished second to Ryan Lochte) and the 50 freestyle, where he instead used a butterfly stroke and finished 42nd . Phelps time of 52.13 seconds in the 100 tied for fourth-quickest in the world this year. In his other event, he swam 50 metres of fly in 24.06, faster than his split time a day earlier in the 100 fly. His biggest challenge last fall was to lose the 30 pounds he had piled on since retiring after the 2012 Olympics. Hes gone from a high of 225 to 194 -- about seven more pounds than he raced at in London. "Hes not fat. Hes been pretty strong in the weight room," Bowman said. "Where hes lacking is aerobic fitness. Hes got a good start on it." Phelps figures to improve that aspect during upcoming high-altitude training in Colorado. Bowmans plan calls for Phelps to work his way up to recovering faster so he can handle multiple individual races a day and swim anywhere from one to three relays. But the coach said his star pupil will never go back to the grind he put in to win all those Olympic medals. "Hes much happier doing the training," Bowman said. "As long as hes enjoying it like he is, its good for everybody. Thats what I am concerned about." Phelps is entered in the last two Grand Prix meets of the season, in North Carolina in May and California in June. Those are tuneups for the U.S. national championships in August, where teams will be chosen for the Pan Pacific Championships later that month and next years world meet. "I know if I really want to compete at a high level, I have to be ready by this summer," he said. Whether all this leads to swimming at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Phelps remains mum. "I always have goals and things that I want to achieve," he said. "This has been an amazing journey that Ive gone on so far, and I just hope it continues." In Saturdays finals at Skyline Aquatic Center, Olympian Katie Ledecky won the 800 free in 8 minutes, 20.10 seconds. Katie Hoff, making her own comeback after taking time off, dropped 1.55 seconds from her preliminary time to win the 200 individual medley in 2:12.92. In mens races, Olympian Tyler Clary won the 200 fly in 2:00.39; Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia won the 100 backstroke in 54.40; and Darian Townsend of South Africa took the 200 IM in 2:02.07. . Saltalamacchia has agreed to a $21 million, three-year deal with the Miami Marlins, two people familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday. . He was 40. Firefighters were called about 11 a.m. Friday because Brown was unresponsive at his home near the Inner Harbor, fire spokesman Battalion Chief Kevin Cartwright said. He said Brown was dead when firefighters arrived.
http://www.officialredsoxfanstore.com/a ... ox-jersey/. - This is just the warm-up act for 18-year-old William Nylander. . The Cottagers last victory came in a 2-1 home win over West Ham when Rene Meulensteen was still in charge. Since then, a miserable run of seven defeats and two draws has seen the club part with the Dutch coach and replace him with German Felix Magath. . Atletico Madrid made it three wins from three thanks to a double from in-form striker Diego Costa in a 3-0 victory at Austria Vienna, leaving the Spanish side on the brink of the last 16 already to continue its brilliant start to the season.BOSTON - It was a difficult but rewarding split for the Minnesota Wild.The Wild rallied with three goals in the third period and beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Tuesday night, easing the pain from the night before when Minnesota was at the opposite end of a surprising comeback.The way it all worked out, were really not too disappointed. We learned a couple lessons on the trip, Wild coach Mike Yeo said.Lesson No. 1 came Monday night in New York, when the Rangers scored five in the third period of a 5-4 win over the Wild. Having led that game 3-0 after two periods, a 3-1 deficit against the Bruins entering the third on Tuesday didnt seem so big.Zach Parise and Justin Fontaine scored 2:13 apart for Minnesota early in the third to tie it, then Marco Scandella scored the go-ahead goal with 5:53 remaining as the Wild salvaged a split in their first back-to-back games this season.It happened to us in New York and we knew that we had a good game. We wanted to keep going and keep pushing and thats what we did in the third, Scandella said. I felt like we had a lot of momentum and it was just bound to happen.Parise said Yeo made some tactical adjustments in the second intermission and the Wild responded by coming out firing on Boston goalie Tuukka Rask.Thats the way it goes. You get one and all of the sudden you get a little momentum and you start to feel good about it, Parise said. The best thing is that the way we were playing paid off.Rask faced 18 of Minnesotas 42 shots in the third period as Wild continued pressing through any fattigue lingering from Monday.ddddddddddddNiklas Backstrom stopped 25 shots for Minnesota and picked up the win despite allowing three straight goals by the Bruins. Rookie Seth Griffith scored in the first and second, then assisted on Milan Lucics goal with 3:01 left in the second.But the Wild controlled the pace in the third and capitalized on the absence of Boston defenceman Zdeno Chara, who is out 4-6 weeks with a knee injury.Theres no excuse why we shouldnt have been the better team in the third, being fresh and all of that, but it shows character for them, Rask said. Thats how we like to win games.The Wild had allowed just six goals all season before the collapse in New York on Monday, when the Rangers scored five in the third period while winning 5-4. It appeared to be happening again when Boston scored three straight on Backstrom, but the Bruins stalled in the third.They were down two goals. They came out hard. They put the puck deep and we werent able to make a clean break out of there, said Bostons David Krejci, who set up Griffiths first goal with a cross-ice pass to the crease. They played well in the third period, but we played poorly.Notes: Nino Niederreiter scored early in the first period for Minnesota. ... Thomas Vanek assisted on Minnesotas first goal, giving him 63 points in 56 games against Boston. ... Griffith had his first multi-point game one week after scoring his first career goal. ... Referee Dave Lewis was injured and left the game after taking a puck to the face in the first period. ' ' '
