Two weeks ago, we learned that there would be a show during “Shark Week” that will pit Michael Phelps versus a great white shark. The first trailer for “Phelps Vs Shark: The Battle For Ocean Supremacy” debuted and we get a hint that Phelps will be given an equalizer to help bridge the vast speed gap between man and shark. In the trailer, we see that the 23-time gold-winning Olympian will be swimming with fins to give him a fighting chance to defeat a great white shark in a race.
Apparently, fins can “increase your swimming speed by 50 percent.” Even by doubling Phelps’ blistering speed, the superhero Olympian would still be too slow to compete with a shark. 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. So even with fins, Phelps is still half the speed of a great white shark.
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!”
So who ya got in the interspecies battle for ocean supremacy the 23-time gold-winning Olympian or a fish?
“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.