ROME — Michael Phelps has a whole day off. In Rome, no less.

Will he tour the Vatican? Check out the Trevi Fountain? Visit the Colosseum?

"I've got to try to get as much rest as possible," Phelps said.

Guess his mother is here for the sightseeing. Phelps is all business, even when he's swimming a reduced schedule that actually provided him a break today.

"I've got most of the workload over with now," Phelps said, sounding a bit relieved after a tiring, stressful year.

He's also got another world record, and this one was particularly satisfying. One night after he was soundly beaten by Germany's Paul Biedermann in the 200-meter freestyle, Phelps broke his own record in the 200 butterfly Wednesday for his first individual title at these world swimming championships.

For good measure, he surpassed another of Mark Spitz's accomplishments with the 34th world record of his career, one more than Spitz had during his brilliant run in the pool.

The 200 fly was an appropriate salve on Phelps' wound. That event produced his first trip to the Olympics in 2000 where he finished fifth as a 15-year-old. That event produced the first of all those world records in 2001.

He went out strong, fought off the pain over the last lap and touched in 1 minute, 51.51 seconds, more than a half-second lower than his gold medal-winning time of 1:52.03 at the Beijing Olympics.