Michael Phelps at Arena Pro Swim Series 2015: Santa Clara Race Results, Reaction

Michael Phelps hasn't been pleased with his recent performances. In fact, he's been pretty publicly disgusted by them. If nothing else, his first event at the Arena Pro Swim Series in Santa Clara, the men's 200-meter freestyle, was a step in the right direction. 

While Phelps didn't win the event, he came a respectable third, finishing behind winner Connor Jaeger and runner-up Nikita Lobintsev. The full results are below.

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Connor Jaeger	1:48.66
2	Nikita Lobintsev	1:58.86
3	Michael Phelps	1:49.03
4	Kyle Whitaker	1:49.24
5	Clark Smith	1:49.35
6	Matias Koski	1:49.42
7	Mitch D’Arrigo	1:49.92
8	Michael Klueh	1:50.36
9	Ryan Murphy	1:50.59

This event was Phelps' first since May, when he swam so poorly in an event in Charlotte, North Carolina, that he noted he was tired "of just getting whooped" and called his performance "horrendous” and “pretty garbage," per Nick Zaccardi of NBC OlympicTalk. 

His performance on Friday was certainly better than what he offered in Charlotte, however, per Zaccardi:

It was still a second slower than he swam the event in Santa Clara last year, however. 

Phelps fared much better in Saturday's 200-meter butterfly. He finished the race in first place, a little under a second ahead of Chase Kalisz. According to the Associated Press (via ABC 15 in Phoenix), his final time of 1:57.62 was short of his personal best a three-second improvement over his performance in Charlotte.

The full results are below.

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Michael Phelps	1:57.62
2	Chase Kalisz	1:58.06
3	Tom Shields	1:58.28
4	Kaio Almeida	1:58.98
5	Tyler Clary	1:59.62
6	Kyle Whitaker	1:59.66
7	Justin Lynch	1:59.73
8	Gunnar Bentz	2:00.20
9	Bobby Bollier	2:01.16

Phelps participated in three events Sunday: the 200-meter individual medley, 200-meter backstroke and 100-meter freestyle. His fortunes varied rather wildly throughout the trio. He placed first in the IM, ninth in the backstroke and didn't make it past the preliminary stage of the freestyle.

You can view the results from his two finals below.

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Michael Phelps	1:59.39
2	Josh Prenot	2:00.43
3	Chase Kalisz	2:02.33
4	Max Williamson	2:02.55
5	Gunnar Bentz	2:02.60
6	Alex Lebed	2:03.59
7	Mohamed Hussein	2:03.67
8	Michael Meyer	2:04.38
9	Dylan Bosch	2:04.52

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Ryan Murphy	1:57.06
2	Tyler Clary	1:59.32
3	Jacob Pebley	1:59.82
4	Omar Pinzon	2:00.02
5	Tristan Sanders	2:01.60
6	Matt Grevers	2:01.89
7	Connor Green	2:01.99
8	Michael Taylor	2:03.56
9	Michael Phelps	2:04.11

Olympic Talk's Nick Zaccardi doesn't envision the United States' top stars performing very well at the World Championships in August:

Sunday will likely be the last time we'll see Phelps in a major competition for some time, however, as he isn't eligible to perform in the Worlds after pleading guilty to DUI in December.

He will perform at the U.S. Championships in San Antonio in August, however.

It would appear Phelps has a lot of progress to make if he indeed hopes to make the team for the 2016 Rio Games after coming out of his one-year retirement. The 18-time gold-medal winner has a long way to go to compete against the top swimmers in the world, however, as Jaeger is certainly an excellent swimmer and one to watch.

So while his first performance in Santa Clara was a step in the right direction, it may have been a baby step in the right direction. Given how down he was on himself after Charlotte, however, Phelps will likely take any progression as a promising sign.