Swimming: Peirsol sets two world records

MOSCOW - Newport Harbor High senior Aaron Peirsol, who fulfilled an

11-year-old promise to his mother, Wella, by breaking a world record last

month, broke two more Sunday at the Short Course World Championships in

Moscow.

Peirsol’s winning time of 1:51.17 in the 200-meter backstroke broke

the short course record held by two others. The short course record,

earned in a 25-meter pool, adds to the long course (50-meter pool) record

of 1:55.15 he set March 20 while earning a victory in the national long

course championships in Minneapolis.

Peirsol, the Olympic silver medalist in the 200 back in Sydney,

Australia, also swam the backstroke (leadoff) leg on Sunday’s victorious

400 medley relay, which clocked a world record 3:29.00.

Dave Salo, Peirsol’s coach at Irvine Novaquatics who did not make the

trip to Russia, said Peirsol’s short course record was unexpected.

“Aaron is not as strong pushing off the walls as a lot of the top

competitors in this event, so to set the world record is pretty

significant,” said Salo, who also coaches the men’s and women’s teams at

Orange Coast College. “The top backstrokers in the world were there,

including Matt Welsh from Australia, so he raced some good people. And he

broke the world record in an event that is not his strongest.”

Peirsol finished nearly two seconds ahead of runner-up Marko Strahija

(1:53.08) from Croatia. Peirsol’s time was .45 better than the previous

record (1:15.62), shared by Australian Welsh (Oct. 13, 2000 in Melbourne,

Australia) and Croatian Gordan Kozulj (Jan. 21, 2000 in Berlin, Germany).

Combined with his 400 medley relay performance Sunday, Peirsol has now

broken three world records in 18 days, making good on a pledge made to

his mom on a visit to the U.S. Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale,

Fla. that he planned to break a world record one day.

Peirsol, who qualified Sunday morning for the final in a meet-record

1:51.81, swam splits of 26.46, 28.02, 28.16 and 28.53 seconds in the

final. His qualifying splits were 25.56, 28.02, 28.70 and 28.53.

“He had a great swim in the morning, then came back and put the pedal

to the metal in the final,” Salo said. “I think a guy tried to stay with

him for the first 150 meters, but he just pulled away. He has been

swimming a very fast last 50 meters in his 200s and (Sunday) was no

different.”

The medley relay victory, on which Peirsol teamed with David Denniston

(breaststroke), Peter Marshall (butterfly) and Novaquatics teammate Jason

Lezak (freestyle), was also a bit of a surprise, according to Salo.

“Any time you beat the Australians, it’s a psychological victory, as

well,” Salo said. “We didn’t have our best breaststroker or our best

butterflier there.”

The Australian quartet of Geoff Huegill, Jim Piper, Adam Pine and

Ashley Callus touched in 3:29.35, which was also ahead of the previous

world record of 3:29.88, set in 1999 by an Australian foursome competing

in Hong Kong.

Peirsol, who at age 15 was the youngest American ever to break 2:00 in

the 200 backstroke, also won the 200 backstroke at the 2001 world

championships.

The 18-year-old University of Texas-bound standout, scheduled to

return from Moscow Tuesday and begin competing for his high school team,

finished second to fellow American Lenny Krayzelburg in his featured

event in Sydney. Krayzelburg is on the comeback trail from shoulder and

sinus surgery and has not competed in major events this year.

After the CIF Southern Section Championships, scheduled May 8, in

which he is the three-time defending Division I champion in the 100-yard

backstroke and has added individual titles in the 200 freestyle (2001)

and the 200 individual medley (2000), Peirsol will begin preparation for

the second U.S. national long course championships this season. The

second U.S. nationals are scheduled Aug. 14-19 in Fort Lauderdale.