GOLD COAST, Australia — Michael Phelps is predicting the long world record drought in swimming will come to an end this month at the world championships in Shanghai, and he is best qualified to know.

The 26-year-old has dominated swimming recently, winning eight of his 14 Olympic gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, and is competing in up to seven events at the world championships.

Swimming’s world record drought has reached 18 months in the Olympic-size 50-meter pool since the ban on rubberized suits at the beginning of 2010.

“People just want it more now. We’re going to see faster swimming than we’ve really ever seen,” Phelps said after a training session Friday at Southport on Australia’s Gold Coast, where the U.S. team is preparing for the championships. “There are going to be a lot faster swims than even the Olympics or the world swimming championships in ‘09 — even with the ‘suits’ we have now.”

An incredible 43 world records were set at the world championships in Rome two years ago, including Phelps’ marks in the butterfly and 400 medley, and overall between 2008 and 2009 — the rubberized suit era — there were more than 200 records set over long- and short-course.

Many swimmers and coaches thought after the suits were banned last year that it would take a decade before the records start tumbling again. Men are now only allowed to wear textile suits from the waist to the knees and women are restricted to suits that stretch from the shoulders to the knees.