Michael Phelps's personal-best time in the long-course 200 m freestyle was 1:42.96.
He set the mark at the 2008 Beijing Olympics on August 12, winning the event and breaking the world record. The performance made Phelps the first swimmer under 1:43 in the long-course 200 m freestyle. His time was also an American record and stood as one of the defining swims of his record-setting Olympic campaign.
Phelps won the race ahead of Park Tae-hwan and Peter Vanderkaay. The event was one of eight finals he contested in Beijing, where he won eight gold medals, surpassing Mark Spitz's previous record of seven golds at a single Olympics.
The phrase “long-course” matters: it means a 50-meter pool, the standard Olympic format. It should not be confused with short-course swimming in a 25-meter pool, where turns and underwater phases can produce different times. Phelps's 1:42.96 is tied specifically to the long-course 200 m freestyle.