Phelps claims record 50th national title

IRVINE, California - Michael Phelps won the 100m butterfly at the US swimming championships on Thursday, nabbing the 50th national title of his career with a time that put a smile on his face.

Phelps clocked 50.65sec, fastest in the world this year, and said he was pleased with the effort a day after bemoaning a "terrible" performance in winning the 200m fly on Wednesday.

"I was real happy with that. I wanted to put some distance between my time and the (previous) fastest time in the world," said Phelps, who surpassed the 51.70 set by Evgeny Korotsyshkin.