American backstroke swimmer Aaron Peirsol and his athletic career (Part II)
After the controverial Summer Olympics of 2004 at Athens, the American backstroke swimmer did a great job at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships that took place in Montreal Canada.
At this championships he won gold medals in both the 100 metre and 200 metre backstroke races and the 4 into 100 metre medley relay. He improved his timings, and swam quite well at the World Aquatics Championships and set a world record in the 100 metre backstroke, by one hundredth of a second and finished in 53.62 seconds.
While in the 200 metre backstroke, Aaron Peirsol finished the race in 1 minute and 54.66 seconds and took away the gold medal, breaking his own record that he set with a time of 1 minute and 54.74 seconds.
Two years later in the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, the great American swimmer’s performance improved significantly in the 100 metre backstroke and his timings came to 52.98 seconds and thus he became the first male swimmer to have finished the race in a time of less than 53 seconds. In this championship, Aaron defeated the most popular American swimmer today, Michael Phelps in the 100 metre backstroke. Although Michael Phelps was well ahead of Aaron in the first 50 metres, the last 25 metres were enough for the backstroke swimmer to overturn Phelps.
Aaron Peirsol obviously qualified for the Summer Olympics of 2008 at Beijing after he was successful in finishing the trial races for the mega event in America with quick timings. When the Games began, the backstroke swimmer won the 100 metre backstroke with a time of 52.54, setting another world record at the Olympics. He set a total number of 5 world records in just this one Summer Olympics.
Aaron has been the unbeatable backstroke swimmer in the 100 metre backstroke final races since the US Spring Nationals that took place in 2002. In the Beijing Olympics final race of the 200 metre backstroke Aaron finished the race behind Ryan Lochte and both swimmers shared the world record that was set in the backstroke races of 100 and 200 metre. Ryan Lochte was successful in overturning the already set world record in the 200 metre backstroke.
Aaron Piersol won his third gold medal of the Beijing Olympics three days later when he won the gold medal in the 4 into 100 metre medley relay. The American squad in the Olympics included Brendan Hansen, Michael Phelps and Jason Lezak. The team set a world record in the 4 into 100 metre medley relay in a time of 3 minutes and 29.34 seconds.
In 2009, at the US National Swimming Championships, Aaron further improved his timings for the 100 metre backstroke and set a world record in this particular race for the sixth time by finishing the race in just 51.94 seconds and thus became the first swimmer to have finished the 100 metre backstroke in a time less than 52 seconds. In the same event, Peirsol also improved on his world record timings for the sixth time in the 100 metre backstroke when he finished the race in the time of 1 minute and 53.08 seconds.
In the World Aqautics Championships during the same year, Aaron disappointed his fans and trainers when he could not make it to the final of the 100 metre backstroke. He blamed his disqualification on the miscalculations that he made about his own position in the semi finals of the same event.
However in the final of the 200 metre backstroke of the World Championships, Aaron surpassed the world record set by him and won away the gold medal by finishing the race in just 1 minute and 51.92 seconds. Peirsol also participated in the 4 into 100 metre medley final in which he finished his leg in 52.19 seconds while the American team set a new world record of 3 minutes and 27.28 seconds. The world record set by Piersol in the 4 into 100 metre medley was a championship record time but he could not win the gold in this event since he could not make it to the finals.
Aaron Peirsol recently swam at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships that took place in Irvine California this month.
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