New 50 metres freestyle world-record holder Frederick Bousquet will face Michael Phelps in the Charlotte UltraSwim contest.

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Bousquet smashed the previous mark of 21.28 seconds with a 20.94 swim at the French national championships in Montpellier on April 26.

The previous record was set by Australia's Eamon Sullivan in March 2008 in Sydney.

Bousquet and compatriot Alain Bernard, who set a 100m freestyle world record of 46.94sec three days before his countryman at the same championships, will be the top targets for Phelps as he makes his first strokes toward the 2012 London Olympics.

Phelps, who won an unprecedented eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics after taking six in 2004 at Athens, plans a new challenge for London - improving his sprint speed with an eye to becoming the world's fastest swimmer.

American hero Phelps plans to swim the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles plus the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke at UltraSwim, his first meet since the Beijing Olympics.