All-Galaxy swimmer Michael Phelps continued to struggle through the 2009 World Cup on Saturday when he finished 5th in the 200m butterfly, and scratched his preliminary heat of the 100m I.M.

Phelps barely even made the final, after qualifying 8th in the morning prelims. In qualifying, Phelps finished in 1:53.82. He managed to lower that time significantly in the final, where he went a 1:52.26, but still could not catch top qualifier Nikolay Skvortsov of Russia. Skvortsov won the event in 1:50.58.

The 200m fly ended up being Phelps’ only event on Day 1 in Berlin. He decided to scratch the 100m I.M, an event that he finished 3rd in at the Stockholm stop, due to it’s proximity to his 200m fly prelim.

Tomorrow, Phelps will swim a rematch against German rival Paul Biedermann, who is one of the few men to beat Phelps at a major international championship in recent years. Biedermann, who is coming off an injury, had significantly more success than Phelps on Day 1, when he shattered the 7+ year old record in the 400m freestyle.

For what it’s worth, Biedermann’s coach, Frank Embacher, downplayed tomorrow’s race by saying “We surely won’t see a great duel.”