Michael Phelps is the ultimate legend of swimming. It is fair to say that the most decorated Olympian of all time surely knows a lot about the sport, which is why even after retiring in 2016, Phelps continues to give advice to young swimming prodigies. Along with his immense experience, Phelps pointed out during the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials that U.S. swimming prodigy Michael Andrew needed to train differently in order to avoid criticism for his individual medley.

What happened was that during the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials and at the Tokyo Olympics, Michael Andrew, despite being super-fast, fell apart in the end and lost a number of races. This prompted Phelps to remark that all swimmers should add more lengths to their training routines in order to achieve medals. Now, with his latest performances at the 2023 Swimming World Cup in Berlin, it seems that Andrew has finally mastered his training as he scored valuable points for the USA.

Michael Andrew’s improved swim after Michael Phelps’ advice

With the 2023 Swimming World Cup underway in Berlin, Michael Andrew scored crucial points for his country with his two podium finishes. Andrew opened the scoring with a first-place finish in the men’s 100m butterfly event when he beat the likes of Ben Armbruster and fellow countryman Trenton Julian to win the race in 51.66 seconds.

His second podium finish came during the men’s 50m freestyle as he secured second place with a time of 22.03 seconds. Despite an amazing finish, the American fell short and missed out on the opportunity to win the race ahead of Australia’s Issac Cooper, who clocked a time of 21.93 seconds. Andrew will be hoping for more of the same throughout the competition since a poor run of form in the buildup to the recent world championships cost the Olympic swimmer dearly.

When Michael Andrew missed the cut

During the recent 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Michael Andrew missed the cut after some poor performances. All countries can only take 26 men and 26 women to elite swimming competitions like world championships and Olympics. While Andrew managed to tick most Team USA selection boxes, he was not able to win the 50-free final, which eventually resulted in Andrew missing the final cut. He was defeated by Ryan Held, who won the race in 21.50 while Jack Alexy secured a second-place finish with a time of 21.63 seconds.

Read more: Caeleb Dressel Gets a New American Rival as He Makes a Perfect 51.66 Finish Over Australians at Swimming World Cup 2023

However, his recent performances paint a different picture of his form and intent. It seems that Andrew may have finally started to understand Michael Phelps’ advice about training for longer lengths, and Andrew will be hoping to maintain his strong run of form as he approaches next year’s Paris Olympics.

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