Long-Standing NAG Record of Backstroke Great Aaron Peirsol Under Fire at Junior Pan Pacs
Some records are of the ahead-of-their-time variety, so impressive that they prompt a bit of head shaking. Such is the nature of the 200-meter backstroke standard set by multi-time Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol. As a 16-year-old in the front half of 2000, Peirsol moved through the 200 back in 1:57.03, an effort that remains the National Age Group marker for the 15-16 classification.
After two decades, that record might be living its final days.
On the opening night of the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii, 16-year-old Daniel Diehl broke his own record in the 100 backstroke, going 53.27. Diehl is scheduled to contest several more events for Team USA, with the 200 backstroke slated for Friday. That event will offer Diehl the chance to take down Peirsol’s long-standing standard.
Diehl has been within sniffing distance of the record, as he clocked 1:57.62 earlier this summer at the YMCA National Championships. Given the form Diehl exhibited in the 100 backstroke, slicing a little more than a half-second off his personal best seems possible. Of course, that type of drop would put Diehl right on Peirsol’s record, and within reach of a sub-1:57 performance.
With Peirsol’s 22-year-old NAG record being targeted, it provides an opportunity to review the stellar career of the California native and longtime lynchpin for Team USA in international waters. Peirsol is a seven-time Olympic medalist who also collected 12 medals during his career at the World Championships. A 2016 inductee into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, Peirsol set 13 world records between the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke, with his 200 back mark of 1:51.92 still standing.