28 July,2011 09:19 AM IST | | AFP
US star Michael Phelps yesterday said it felt good to be back on the winning trail, admitting he had to dig deep to grab his first gold medal of the Shanghai world championships in the 200m butterfly.
The Olympic champion and world record-holder, who has had a rocky year, was part of the US 4x100m freestyle relay team handed a rare beating and he also lost to teammate and rival Ryan Lochte in the 200m freestyle on Tuesday.
But Phelps, who could still match the tally of five golds he won in Rome in 2009, stormed ahead in the early stages but had to fight off a late challenge by Japan's Takeshi Matsuda, clocking a winning time of 1min 53.34sec.
"A lot of it is being fitter but also I didn't want to lose that race again." said Phelps. "I kind of wanted to have the feeling of winning a race again. It feels good to win a race," he added.
