In his taper meet debut at the 2015 US Nationals, Michael Phelps wasted no time asserting himself as one of the world’s best swimmers in 2015. In his first event, the 200 meter fly, he rocketed from 8th seed to 1st seed with a 1:55.15.

Phelps split 25.92/28.93/29.82/30.48 on the way to his final time, by far the fastest he’s been since the London 2012 Olympics. He was a 1:57.62 back in June at the Arena Pro Swim Santa Clara. Prior to that, he swam a rough 2:00.63 at Arena Pro Swim Charlotte.

That swim was the fastest time done by an American in 2015, faster than both Tom Shields (1:55.75) and Tyler Clary (1:55.86) at the FINA World Championships.

The most likely to challenge him in the final is Jack Conger. Conger swam a best time to put up a 1:56.19 in prelims, just behind Phelps on their heat. He was out slower at the 100 (56.26) but was able to close the gap some on the back half in 59.93. Conger seemed to be cruising through the middle part of this race. His 50 splits were 25.72/30.54/31.15/28.78.

We haven’t seen a rested Phelps swim this race in a long time, so we’ll have to wait for finals to see if Phelps can drop his back half, of if Conger will dominate through that part of the race.

If that kind of improvement from his in-season times translates into Phelps’ other swims, we could see some more of him in the 2015 world top 10 rankings. He’ll swim the 100 fly, 200 I.M., and 200 breast later this week.