VICTORIA, British Columbia, Aug. 17. AARON Peirsol opened what would become a record-setting string of events at the 2006 Mutual of Omaha Pan Pacific Championships on Thursday as the world-record holder went on to win the 100 back in a meet-record time of 53.32. That effort eclipsed the former standard of 53.60 set by Lenny Krayzelburg in 1999.
Meanwhile, United States’ Ryan Lochte finished .7 seconds behind with a silver-medal 54.02, while Japan’s Tomomi Morita captured bronze in 54.38.
"Each year I'm getting better, and I don't think I've reached the top of my best yet, so when guys like Ryan and Randall are pushing me, it's great,” Peirsol said. “We don't have to travel the world for this kind of great racing; we can do it in our own backyard."
The top-two performance pushed the U.S. medal lead to two with five (3G, 2S) total medals, while Japan took sole possession of second with three (1G, 2B).
In the second event with World Championship team implications, Randall Bal came up just short of moving back into the top-two for the Americans as his 53.84 during a consolation heat triumph did not surpass Lochte’s 53.78 set during prelims.
Click Here to view event results PDF