Excerpted from Swimming World Magazine

**Better than ever? Is that really possible? If Michael Phelps walked away from the sport today, an argument could be made proclaiming him as the greatest swimmer in history. Such is the power of his eight-medal haul from the Athens Olympics and his mind-boggling versatility. Phelps, though, isn’t going anywhere and just might be moving into another stratosphere.

Last weekend, while racing at the Santa Clara International Swim Meet, Phelps posted world-class times while in the middle of training. He left the competition with six victories, including three on the final day of action. For the record, he collected titles in the 200 and 400 individual medley events, the 100 and 200 backstrokes, the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle.

Okay, winning multiple events is nothing new for Phelps, but the fact that he won with impressive mid-training times suggests that he’s returned to his Olympic form, perhaps better. While handling various commitments last year, Phelps slipped from his 2003 and 2004 status of untouchable. Now, though, he’s storming toward a sensational summer.

Over the past few months, there has been some discussion that Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh was closing the gap on Phelps in the medley events and could be capable of surpassing Mighty Mike. Guess what? It won’t happen. Sure, Cseh is a special talent, but Phelps is one-of-a-kind athlete, motivated by challenges. Don’t be surprised if, either at Nationals or Pan Pacs, Phelps goes off and breaks each of his medley world records.