( CNN ) -- Swimming legend Michael Phelps struggled in his attempt to adapt to the old-style racing suits at the World Cup short-course event in Sweden on Tuesday . The 14-time Olympic gold medal winner qualified for finals in only one of three events in Stockholm , his best result being seventh of eight to go through in the men 's 100 meter medley . Racing for the first time since winning five golds and a silver at the world championships in July , the American missed out on the 100m freestyle after qualifying in 16th of 23 competitors . His time of 47.77 seconds was 1.84 seconds slower than the leading mark set by Sweden 's Stefan Nystrand . The 24-year-old , who was disqualified in the 100m backstroke , set a time of 53.13 seconds in the medley . The fastest man , South African Darian Townsend , came home in 52.48 . Phelps was one of the few swimmers to revert to the old-style suits , which will become mandatory after January 1 as world ruling body FINA seeks to rein in the high-tech costumes which have sent records tumbling at an incredible rate in the past two years . He will swim in the 100m butterfly and 200m medley heats on Wednesday , and then head to the next leg of the World Cup in Berlin at the weekend . In Stockholm on Tuesday , Chinese swimmer Jing Zhao set a new world record in the heats of the women 's 50m backstroke , clocking 26.08 seconds . She beat the mark of 26.17 posted by Australia 's Marieke Guehrer in the previous meet of the series in Moscow on November 6 . In the men 's 50m butterfly , South Africa 's Roland Schoeman was first in a new World Cup record of 22.29 .
Swimming star Michael Phelps struggles in old-style racing suits at World Cup short-course event . The 14-time Olympic gold medal winner missed out on two of three finals in Stockholm . He was one of the few to wear an old-style suit , which will be mandatory next year . Phelps has two more events on Wednesday before heading to the next leg in Berlin .