BEIJING (AFP) — Michael Phelps stunned even himself with a desperate last lunge to grasp a record-equalling seventh Olympic gold medal in Beijing, ahead of a shock line-up for Saturday's showpiece, the athletics' men's 100 metres final.
Phelps, his quest for Olympic immortality seeming derailed when seventh at the turn, stormed home in the 100m butterfly to claim a finger-tip victory over Serbia's Milorad Cavic.
But United States world champion Tyson Gay couldn't repeat such a late burst on the track and he was sensationally eliminated from the blue riband 100 metres when finishing fifth in his semi-final.
This left the prospect of a mouth-watering showdown between world recordholder Usain Bolt and fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell in the sprint final at 10.30pm (1430 GMT).
Phelps stunning performance where he made up more than half a second in the final 50m to beat Cavic by just one-hundredth of a second, saw him draw level with fellow US pool legend Mark Spitz's record of seven golds at one Games set 36 years ago.
"When I did take that extra half stroke I thought I'd lost the race. I'm really lost for words," a thrilled Phelps said..
Serbia protested but a frame-by-frame replay confirmed the result.
Phelps is one swim away from breaking Spitz's mark in the 4x100m medley relay which brings the curtain down on pool competition on Sunday.
China stayed firmly at the head of the medals table with 27, closing rapidly on its best performance of 32 in Athens and with just over a third of the finals completed.
The United States are second with 16 gold medals followed by Germany on eight.
At the pool, Phelps's desperate last burst in the 100m fly was the only one of his gold medal swims this week where he has failed to break the world record.
That put the spotlight on Britain's Rebecca Adlington who shattered the longest-standing world swimming record, the women's 800m freestyle, taking 2.12secs off the 19-year-old mark set by American great Janet Evans in 1989.
Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry also set a world record in defending her women's 200m backstroke title.
An emotional Cesar Cielo broke down in tears as the Brazilian national anthem was played when he became his country's first-ever Olympic swimming champion winning the splash-and-dash men's 50m freestyle final.
Serbia did strike success over the United States away from the pool when Novak Djokovic beat James Blake 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) for the men's tennis bronze medal.
Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva set up an all-Russian women's singles final eliminating Chinese giant-killer Li Na while fifth-seed Dementieva beating fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva.
Spaniard Joan Llaneras produced a stunning display of endurance at the Laoshan Veledrome reclaiming the men's track cycling points title he last won in Sydney eight years ago.
There were two golds also in cycling for the powerful British team with Bradley Wiggins retaining the individual pursuit title and Chris Hoy taking the keirin.
In terms of endurance Romanian rower Georgeta Andrunache is on the brink of history after she and partner Viorica Susanu won the women's pair.
It was Andrunache's fifth gold medal, bringing her level with rowing legends Steve Redgrave and her compatriot Elisabeta Lipa, and she has a chance to win an unprecedented sixth in the women's eight on Sunday.
British cyclist Rebecca Romero is assured of a place in Olympic history for winning medals in two sports after qualifying for the women's individual pursuit final.
Romero won a rowing silver in Athens four years ago.
China's drive to clinch all five badminton titles took another step forward when they went two-from-two with defending champion Zhang Ning upsetting world number one Xie Xingfang in a gripping 21-12, 10-21, 21-18 women's singles final.
Shooter Vincent Hancock added to the American gold count in the Skeet when the 19-year-old held his nerve in a shoot-off with Tore Brovold of Norway after both competitors ended with a final tally of 145.
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