Michael Phelps had one of the best careers an athlete could ever dream of. He started swimming around the age of seven and still does today. He retired from competitive swimming after the conclusion of the 2016 Rio Olympics, but swimming remains an important part of Phelps's life.
Michael Phelps won several world records. He had a habit of creating new world records and breaking the same in later events. Though several world records set by Michael have been broken by other athletes, he still holds some of the world records even after retiring six years ago.
Current world records held by Michael Phelps
Throughout his career, Phelps won several medals and simultaneously forged many world records. Michael Phelps currently holds four world records. He has a world record in the 400m individual medley, 4 x 100m freestyle relay at the Olympics, and another set of world records in the 4 x 100m medley relay and 4 x 200m freestyle relay at the World Championships.
The GOAT Olympian created his very first world record in 2001 at the United States Spring Nationals when he swam the 200m butterfly event in a time of 1:54.92.
The GOAT Olympian set his current world record in the 400m individual medley at the 2008 Olympics when he won the gold medal with a time of 4:03.84. With this swim, he broke his own world record, which he created at the 2007 World Championships in the same event. At the 2007 World Championships, Phelps completed the race with a then-world record time of 4:06.22.
Phelps, along with his team, created another world record at the 2008 Olympics when they swam the 4 x 100m freestyle relay with a world record time of 3:08.24. This was Phelps' second world record at the Olympics.
Michael Phelps, along with his teammates, was able to set a new world record in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay when they won gold by swimming in a record time of 6:58.55 at the 2009 World Championships. It is noteworthy that they broke the world record set at the same event the previous year at the Olympics.
Phelps and his team created another world record at the 2009 World Championships when they won the 4 x 100m medley relay in a world record time of 3:27.28 seconds.
The legendary swimmer was a master of the craft when it came to his favorite butterfly stroke-based events before his world records were broken. He created two world records at the 100m and 200m butterfly events during the 2009 World Championships. Michael won both events by swimming in a record time of 49.82 and 1:51.51.
In fact, Phelps broke his own world record in the 200m butterfly event at the 2009 Championships. He also set a previous world record during the 2008 Olympics when he swam at a then-world record time of 1:52.03. The GOAT swimmer has held eight world records in the 200m butterfly event alone.
Phelps' 100m world record was broken by his fellow countryman Caeleb Dressel during the 2019 World Championships when he swam in a world record time of 49.50. The 200m world record was broken by Hungarian swimmer Kristof Milak. He surpassed Phelps' record when he claimed gold by swimming in a record time of 1:50.73.
Overall, Michael Phelps set 39 world records in his record-breaking career, but only four of those world records remain unbeaten. Records are meant to be broken in the world of sports, but the many world records created by Michael Phelps will be remembered for a long time.