Michael Phelps Results from Friday at Phillips 66 National Championships 2015

Michael Phelps may no longer enjoy the supremacy he once owned over the rest of the swimming world, but the 18-time gold medalist was without equal in the men's 200-meter butterfly at the Phillips 66 National Championships on Friday night in San Antonio. 

The event has a greater significance for Phelps this year since he's barred from competing in the 2015 FINA World Championships following his arrest for driving under the influence last September. The Phillips 66 National Championships is therefore the best way for Phelps to see where he stands in relation to some of the best swimmers in the world.

"This is kind of what I was preparing for the whole entire year," he said Thursday, per Childs Walker of the Baltimore Sun. "I'm honestly just excited to see where I am."

With that in mind, the 30-year-old has to be encouraged with his performance in the butterfly.

Phelps finished with the best time during the preliminary heats, completing the 200 meters in one minute, 55.15 seconds. Jack Conger came in a little over a second behind to finish with the next-fastest time:

Pos.	Swimmer	Time
1	Michael Phelps	1:55.15
2	Jack Conger	1:56.19
3	Pace Clark	1:57.39
4	Clark Smith	1:57.59
5	Dakota Hodgson	1:58.38
6	Andrew Seliskar	1:58.58
7	Carlos Peralta Gallego	1:58.81
8	John Martens	1:58.82
T9	Christian McCurdy	1:58.84
T9	Sam McHugh	1:58.84

While the time itself wasn't otherworldly, it represented a good step forward for Phelps. He laid solid groundwork for the finals later on in the night.

The 200-meter butterfly final ended just as the prelim had, with Phelps besting the competition. He won with relative ease, finishing in 1:52.94. It was the fastest time posted by anyone in 2015, and the fastest by Phelps since he broke the world record using a high-tech suit in 2009:

Pos.	Swimmer	Time
1	Michael Phelps	1:52.94
2	Jack Conger	1:54.54
3	Pace Clark	1:56.84
4	Dakota Hodgson	1:57.51
5	Clark Smith	1:57.83
6	Jack Martens	1:58.06
7	Carlos Peralta Gallego	1:58.83
8	Andrew Seliskar	1:59.11

He led right from the start with a 25.14-second split over the first 50 meters. Over the remainder of the race, he continued opening a lead on Conger, who was his only real competition. Phelps wrapped up the win with a 29.95-second split through the final 50 meters, nearly a half-second faster than Conger.

When you add it all up, it was an outstanding showing. OlympicTalk's Nick Zaccardi put into perspective just how impressive Phelps' final time was:

Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde believed Phelps was a man on a mission in San Antonio:

It's obviously way too early to start inserting Phelps as the favorite in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2016 Summer Olympics, but he undoubtedly laid down a major marker at the Phillips 66 National Championships.

The battle between Phelps and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh, who recently won gold in the 200-meter butterfly at the World Championships, is shaping up nicely for 2016. The two had quite the rivalry at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, so it would be great to see them going head to head again in Rio de Janeiro.