Video: Olympian Michael Phelps loses race against Great White Shark

The shark has jumped Michael Phelps. The Olympic gold medalist couldn’t hold his own against a Great White shark in Sunday night’s racing spectacular on Discovery Channel to kick off Shark Week.

“Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs. Great White” pit the 32-year-old swimmer against the fearsome animal in a 100-meter race...kind of.

Rather than swim in the same water, trainers forced the shark to chase prey for the distance of the race and calculated the speed, along with a last-minute vertical jump used to attack smaller animals.

The shark was then superimposed into the water while Phelps swam for a fun, yet disappointing, CGI race.

For some competitive balance, Phelps, who has 28 Olympic medals to his name, was equipped with a wetsuit that emulated shark skin and a spring-loaded fake fin.

But that wasn’t enough, as the shark pulled off the gold medal, beating Phelps 36.10 seconds to 38.10 seconds.

A Phelps win was unlikely from the beginning — Great Whites average 25 mph in short bursts while the puny human swims about six mph — he said he was thrown off by the cold water, which, at 56 degrees at the time of the race, was 24 degrees colder than an Olympic pool.

“I knew how cold it was going to be, but that basically just shocked my entire body,” he said.

But a two-second defeat didn’t faze the Olympian.

“I don’t like taking silver,” Phelps said, “but I’ll take one to a Great White.”