Australian Nick D’Arcy has defeated Olympic champion and world record holder Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly on the final day of competition at the Santa Clara International in California.

Trailing at every turn, the 23-year-old from Queensland came home strongly to win the race by just 0.01 of a second in a time of 1:55.39, covering the back half of the event almost a second quicker than the 14-time Olympic gold medallilst.

A silver medallist to Phelps in the same event at the Pan Pacific Championships in California last year, D’Arcy’s time ranks him in the top five in the world this year and would have won the national title at the Australian Championships in April.

After surgery on his ankle in January, and missing out on the Australian Championships and subsquently selection onto the world championship team for Shangahi in July due to a liver illness, the medical student from the Sunshine Coast said he was extremely pleased with today’s result.

“It was a tough race, as we were both struggling a bit this morning and I don’t think either of us expected to swim that fast tonight,” said D’Arcy.

“I think that a friendly rivalry has developed between Michael and I since Pan Pacs last year, and I think that allowed us both to exceed our expectations.”

Battling a bout of food poisoning which saw her withdraw from racing yesterday, Emily Seebohm qualified fastest for the women’s 100m backstroke and took that form into the final winning in an gutsy time of 59.77. 

Having already had to contend with swine flu, tonsillitis and glandual fever this year, Seebohm spent most of yesterday vomitting and has not eaten properly since Friday, but rebounded well for her main event today.

The 18-year-old’s time was the fifth best in the world this year, and was too strong for American record holder Melissa Franklin who took silver in 59.98 with Australia’s Meagen Nay continuing her good form to win bronze in 1:00.96.

Olympic champion Stephanie Rice had to contend with a red hot swim from Ariana Kukors from the US in the women’s 200m IM with Rice taking silver in a time of 2:11.39 to add to her gold in the 400m IM yesterday. 

Kukors, the world record holder for the event and reigning world champion, swam a sintilating 2:09.53 to see her move ahead of Australian Alica Coutts (2:09.68) as the fastest in the world this year.

Rice was backing up from silver in the 200m fly to open the night in a time of 2:07.54, her fastest of 2011 seeing the 23-year-old finish the meet with three silver and one individual gold medal.

In the men’s 200m IM 17-year-old Mitch Larkin backed up from his silver in the 200m backstroke yesterday to compete in another final, coming fourth in a time of 2:02.08, while in the women’s 100m breaststroke Aisling Scott from the Brothers club in Brisbane finished fifth in the B final in 1:11.13.