ROME, July 31 — More rested, more motivated and more focused. Aaron Peirsol figured he might have been all of those for Friday’s 200-meter backstroke final after a miscalculation kept him out of the 100 backstroke earlier this week.
Peirsol didn’t merely go under the world record he set wearing the same swimsuit three weeks ago, he completely demolished it, finishing in 1 minute 51.92 seconds at the swimming world championships.
The victory topped his July 11 world record by 1.16 seconds, and it left Japan’s Ryosuke Irie well behind in 1:52.51. American Ryan Lochte, who broke Michael Phelps’s world record in the 200 individual medley Thursday, won the bronze in 1:53.82.
“When I kept pulling away, that was just more of a fire under my butt to go faster,” Peirsol said. “It was just one of those things. I didn’t get the chance to do the 100, obviously ….. [The 200] is really where all my attention has gone this whole week.”
A three-time Olympian who has competed in five world championships, Peirsol did not qualify for the 100 back final because he lost track of where he was in his semifinal heat. Other than that glitch, he has seen dramatic drops in his times this year wearing Arena’s new X-Glide suit, though only the pants. Peirsol’s best time in 2008 was the 1:54.32 he swam at the Olympic trials.
“It’s apples and grapes,” Peirsol said. “I don’t know — apples and meat. This is a lot different in my mind. I was a lot fresher. I had been struggling in this race for a couple of years.”
FINA Flip-Flops on Ban Date
In another change of course, the swimming world governing body (FINA) announced it would implement its ban on long-length, non-textile suits by Jan. 1 rather than as late as May 1 of next year, which was announced earlier this week.
FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu said the governing body was able to firm up the date because it had conferred with swimsuit manufacturers in recent days and confirmed they could provide new suits by then.
“Now definitely, without any doubt, the rules are applied in the first of January, 2010,” Marculescu said.
FINA had hedged on an exact date, prompting an outcry among member nations. It also caused Bob Bowman, the coach of Michael Phelps, to threaten that Phelps would boycott international events until the ban was in place.
USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus said the national governing body would closely watch FINA’s efforts in the coming months.
“The old saying is, ‘the devil is in the details,’.” Wielgus said. “I think those of us who have been active in this need to not relax until we see that it is implemented.”
Pelton Advances
Towson’s Elizabeth Pelton, 15, qualified for her first individual world-championship final, grabbing the eighth and final spot in Saturday’s 200 backstroke final with a time of 2:09.57. Pelton, who failed to make the final of the 50 and 100 back, said she swam slower than she hoped but was happy with the result.
“I actually wanted to be a little faster,” Pelton said. “That was kind of my main goal this week, to make the top eight in something.”
Shanteau Short of Gold
Eric Shanteau simply rolled his eyes after the 200 breaststroke final. He finished second to Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta — by .01 of a second. After the race, Shanteau made reference to Serbian Milorad Cavic’s loss by the same margin to Phelps in the 100 butterfly final at last year’s Olympics.
“I was thrilled and disappointed at the same time,” he said. “Now I know what Cavic felt like last summer.”
Tags: Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte
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