Michael Phelps To Race A Great White Shark During ‘Shark Week’

In an Olympic pool, nobody can touch Michael Phelps’ blistering speed. His super-human abilities allowed him to win 23 gold medals in the Olympics. But Michael Phelps is about to face his match. He will race a great white shark. The race will be part of the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week next month.

Here is the press release from the Discovery Channel:

“They are one of the fastest and most efficient predators on the planet: Sharks. He is our greatest champion to ever get in the water: Michael Phelps. 39 world records. 23 Olympic golds. But he has one competition left to win. An event so monumental no one has ever attempted it before. The world’s most decorated athlete takes on the ocean’s most efficient predator: Phelps V Shark – the race is on!”

Phelps was scouting out the competition last weekend when he went cage diving with some great whites. He captioned the Instagram photo: “I was able to do something that I had always wanted to do. Be in a cage and dive with great White sharks.”

So who ya got: the 23-time gold-winning Olympian or a fish?

Before you reach in your pocket to bet on the 31-year-old retired Olympic swimmer, you should know that this race is as lopsided as Mayweather vs McGregor. This shark site states that the “current consensus among shark scientists is that the top swimming speed of the Great White is at least 25 miles per hour.” Phelps is basically fish food for a great white because, even at the height of his career in 2010, Phelps had a top speed of 6 mph.

“Phelps vs Shark: Great Gold vs Great White” appears at 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 23, in the second hour of Shark Week. The all-word swimmer will also star in another Shark Week TV show titled “Shark School with Michael Phelps,” which will “dispel the myths and common misconceptions” about sharks.

No word on if Brazil will offer to have Ryan Lochte attempt the same swimming race with a great white shark but in the same pool without protection.

[BleacherReport]