Phelps beaten by great white shark in 100m race

A Discovery Channel documentary has discovered the answer to the question everyone had on their lips: Michael Phelps cannot outrace a great white shark.

Phelps, wearing a monofin on his feet, completed a 100-metre butterfly swim in open water off South Africa to set a time of 38.1 seconds.

But experts calculated that the great white shark could swim the same distance in 36.1, meaning Phelps had to settle for second place.

NOT HAPPY: Fans left furious over Phelps' race with 'shark'

"I don’t like taking silver medals, but I’ll take one to a great white," Phelps said.

"We don’t swim in this (the cold ocean), so it basically just shocks our entire body. (The shark is) almost like a bullet."

The shark's top speed was estimated at nearly 42 kilometres per hour.

Earlier in the documentary, Phelps defeated a reef shark over 50 metres but was pipped by a hammerhead's late push.