By Stephen J. Thomas
ATHENS, August 18. WORLD record-holder Aaron Peirsol made a convincing start to taking the dorsal double, when he splashed to an impressive 1:57.33 to lead the field in the prelims of the men's 200 meter backstroke.
Only one other swimmer, Brit James Goddard, dipped under 1:58. Goddard touched in a swift 1:57.96 while teammate Gregor Tait placed fifth in 1:59.35.
Austrian silver medalist in the 100-meters, Marcus Rogan, was third behind Peirsol and Goddard in 1:58.06.
The USA’s other man in this event, Bryce Hunt, clocked a very solid morning swim of 1:59.82 to nail down the seventh spot.
Romanian Euro silver medalist Razvan Florea went 1:58.81 to qualify fourth. France’s Euro bronze medalist Simon Dufour was sixth in 1:59.52, while Spain’s Jorge Sanchez tied with Italian veteran Emanuele Merisi for eighth at 2:00.10.
Two Canadians made the cut: Nathaniel O’Brien (2:00.49) and Keith Beavers (2:00.97).
Japan’s 100 back bronze medalist, Tomomi Morita, was the last man through to the evening round, clocking 2:01.19.
A notable absentee will be 2000 bronze medalist, Aussie Matt Welsh, who could manage only 19th place with a 2:01.73 effort.
Men 200m Backstroke Heats
Record Splits Name NOC Location Date
WR 1:54.74 27.18 55.98 1:25.29 PEIRSOL Aaron USA Long Beach (USA) 12 JUL 2004
OR 1:56.76 27.37 56.59 1:26.05 KRAYZELBURG Lenny USA Sydney (AUS) 21 SEP 2000
Event No: 21
Rank Heat Lane Name NOC R.T. 50m 100m 150m Time Time
Behind
1 5 4 PEIRSOL Aaron USA 0.66 27.54 56.73
29.19 1:26.77
30.04 1:57.33
30.56
2 4 5 GODDARD James GBR 0.67 27.41 56.61
29.20 1:26.76
30.15 1:57.96
31.20 0.63
3 5 5 ROGAN Markus AUT 0.74 27.64 57.25
29.61 1:27.76
30.51 1:58.06
30.30 0.73
4 5 6 FLOREA Razvan ROM 0.68 27.90 57.72
29.82 1:28.40
30.68 1:58.81
30.41 1.48
5 4 4 TAIT Gregor GBR 0.66 28.33 57.92
29.59 1:28.28
30.36 1:59.35
31.07 2.02
6 5 3 DUFOUR Simon FRA 0.68 28.55 58.54
29.99 1:29.06
30.52 1:59.52
30.46 2.19
7 4 3 HUNT Bryce USA 0.70 28.90 58.71
29.81 1:29.00
30.29 1:59.82
30.82 2.49
8 5 2 SANCHEZ Jorge ESP 0.68 28.58 58.87
30.29 1:29.55
30.68 2:00.10
30.55 2.77
8 5 7 MERISI Emanuele ITA 0.62 28.39 58.59
30.20 1:29.48
30.89 2:00.10
30.62 2.77
10 3 2 O BRIEN Nathaniel CAN 0.73 28.78 59.28
30.50 1:30.51
31.23 2:00.49
29.98 3.16
11 5 1 ROMERO Rogerio BRA 0.63 28.69 59.40
30.71 1:30.07
30.67 2:00.60
30.53 3.27
12 3 4 KOZULJ Gordan CRO 0.76 28.21 58.59
30.38 1:29.81
31.22 2:00.94
31.13 3.61
13 4 2 BEAVERS Keith CAN 0.72 29.44 1:00.12
30.68 1:30.63
30.51 2:00.97
30.34 3.64
14 3 5 VYATCHANIN Arkady RUS 0.87 28.87 59.29
30.42 1:30.34
31.05 2:01.09
30.75 3.76
15 4 6 MEDVESEK Blaz SLO 0.74 28.71 59.22
30.51 1:30.56
31.34 2:01.13
30.57 3.80
16 3 6 MORITA Tomomi JPN 0.54 28.70 59.68
30.98 1:31.13
31.45 2:01.19
30.06 3.86
17 4 7 ALESHIN Evgeny RUS 0.75 28.07 58.13
30.06 1:29.46
31.33 2:01.25
31.79 3.92
18 3 1 MURPHY Patrick AUS 0.76 28.45 58.60
30.15 1:29.64
31.04 2:01.26
31.62 3.93
19 3 3 WELSH Matt AUS 0.70 28.51 58.71
30.20 1:29.88
31.17 2:01.73
31.85 4.40
20 4 8 GIBSON Cameron NZL 0.78 28.77 59.78
31.01 1:31.37
31.59 2:02.65
31.28 5.32
21 2 5 ALEX LIM Keng Liat MAS 0.62 27.52 57.76
30.24 1:29.52
31.76 2:02.67
33.15 5.34
22 2 3 BUYUKUNCU Derya TUR 0.59 28.20 58.78
30.58 1:30.57
31.79 2:02.69
32.12 5.36
23 2 7 NECKLES Nicholas BAR 0.65 28.23 58.75
30.52 1:30.21
31.46 2:02.84
32.63 5.51
24 4 1 BODROGI Viktor HUN 0.66 28.82 1:00.06
31.24 1:31.73
31.67 2:03.16
31.43 5.83
25 2 4 NIKOLAYCHUK Volodymyr UKR 0.74 28.70 59.25
30.55 1:31.01
31.76 2:03.21
32.20 5.88
26 2 2 SUSKOV Pavel LTU 0.71 28.77 59.62
30.85 1:31.65
32.03 2:03.54
31.89 6.21
27 2 1 MANIA Adam POL 0.56 28.42 59.20
30.78 1:31.31
32.11 2:03.73
32.42 6.40
28 3 8 GKIOULMPAS Antonios GRE 0.70 28.13 59.62
31.49 1:31.74
32.12 2:04.30
32.56 6.97
29 3 7 WILDEBOER Aschwin ESP 0.72 29.48 1:00.79
31.31 1:32.64
31.85 2:04.33
31.69 7.00
30 5 8 YU Rui CHN 0.54 29.11 59.93
30.82 1:31.47
31.54 2:04.51
33.04 7.18
31 2 6 HUSSEIN Ahmed EGY 0.60 28.45 59.36
30.91 1:31.47
32.11 2:04.82
33.35 7.49
32 2 8 SUNG Min KOR 0.57 29.22 1:00.74
31.52 1:32.56
31.82 2:04.86
32.30 7.53
33 1 5 MAKI Matti FIN 0.71 29.64 1:00.84
31.20 1:33.61
32.77 2:06.29
32.68 8.96
34 1 6 MIHAILOV Andrei MDA 0.76 29.81 1:01.96
32.15 1:34.56
32.60 2:06.97
32.41 9.64
35 1 2 PINZON Omar COL 0.54 28.22 1:00.63
32.41 1:34.14
33.51 2:07.26
33.12 9.93
36 1 3 ZAHAROV Yury KGZ 0.70 30.28 1:02.70
32.42 1:36.27
33.57 2:10.45
34.18 13