Michael Phelps' long-standing record in 200m butterfly broken by 16-year-old Thomas Heilman

Michael Phelps retired from competitive swimming after the 2016 Rio Olympics but most of the records he had set during his highly successful career are still intact. Most recently, a promising young swimmer broke one of Phelps' records. Thomas Heilman has broken a national age group record held by the legendary swimmer in the 200m butterfly category.

The 2023 U.S. National Championships began on June 27 and will conclude on July 1. The Championship is been held at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.

Competing in the 200m butterfly event final, Thomas Heilman clocked a time of 1:54.54, which is better than the time clocked by Phelps in the same age group. Michael Phelps clocked a time of 1:54.58 in the 200m butterfly at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka. Back in 2001, Phelps' 1:54.58 in the 200m butterfly was also a world record.

This national age group record has stood since 2001 and 22 years later, a 16-year-old Heilman has broken that record. In the prelims of the 200m butterfly at the 2023 U.S. National Championships, he showed glimpses of his ability when he clocked a time of 1:55.11.

With his time of 1:54.54 in the final, Heilman has dropped 1.98 seconds off his previous best in the 200m butterfly. According to Swimswam, his previous best in this event was 1:56.52, which he swam at the Junior Pan Pacs last summer.

As far as the final result of the 200m butterfly at the 2023 U.S. National Championships is concerned, Carson Foster finished first with a time of 1:54.32 followed by Heilman in second place.

The video of the final stretch of the 200m butterfly is attached below:

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Split comparison of Thomas Heilman and Michael Phelps record swim in the 200m butterfly

Thomas Heilman grabbed the spotlight with his swim at the U.S. National Championships. The split comparison of Heilman's swim in the 200m butterfly at the 2023 U.S. National Championships and Michael Phelps swim in the 200m butterfly of the 2001 World Aquatics Championships.

	Thomas Heilman - 2023 U.S. National Championships	Michael Phelps - 2001 World Aquatics Championships
50	25.46	25.64
100	54.20 (28.74)	54.81 (29.17)
150	1:24.50 (30.30)	1:24.71 (29.90)
200	1:54.54 (30.04)	1:54.58 (29.87)

After his impressive performance in Indianapolis, Thomas Heilman sits as the 10th fastest US swimmer ever as per Swimswam. This also makes him the youngest swimmer to make the Worlds or the Olympics team on the men's category since Phelps in 2000.

Since Michael Phelps joined the national team in 2000, the only other 16 year old male to make the Worlds or Olympics team was open water swimmer Sean Ryan in 2009. But Sean Ryan was a few months older than Heilman at the time he qualified as per the aforementioned source.