By Phillip Whitten<\/p>\n
ATHENS, August 15. THERE were no surprises in the semifinal round of the men's 100 meter backstroke: everyone who was expected to advance did so, with the favorites holding back a bit for tomorrow's final.<\/p>\n
Aaron Peirsol, the 2003 world champion and the favorite, clocked 54.34 to take the top spot. He'll be shooting for Lenny Krayzelburg's world record of 53.60 tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Austria's Markus Rogan, a Stanford student, was a strong second today in 54.42, followed by Japan's Tomomi Morita, 54.62; the defending Olympic champ, Lenny Krayzelburg, at 54.63; and Germany's Steffen Driesen, 54.64.<\/p>\n
Aussie Matt Welsh, the 2000 silver medalist, is sixth in 54.69; Laszlo Cseh seventh at 54.86 and Germany's Marco Di Carli, eighth in 55.03, setting up what should be a very close contest tomorrow — though the battle probably will be for silver and bronze behind Peirsol.<\/p>\n
\nMen 100m Backstroke Semifinals <\/b><\/p>\n
Record Split Name NOC Location Date
\nWR 53.60 25.97
\n KRAYZELBURG Lenny USA Sydney (AUS) 24 AUG 1999
\nOR 53.72 25.99
\n KRAYZELBURG Lenny USA Sydney (AUS) 18 SEP 2000 <\/p>\n
Event No: 10 <\/p>\n
Rank Heat Lane Name NOC R.T. 50m Time Time
\nBehind
\n1 1 4 PEIRSOL Aaron USA 0.68 26.39 54.34
\n27.95
\n2 1 5 ROGAN Markus AUT 0.73 26.68 54.42
\n27.74 0.08
\n3 2 4 MORITA Tomomi JPN 0.53 26.34 54.62
\n28.28 0.28
\n4 2 3 KRAYZELBURG Lenny USA 0.62 26.42 54.63
\n28.21 0.29
\n5 1 3 DRIESEN Steffen GER 0.70 26.67 54.64
\n27.97 0.30
\n6 2 2 WELSH Matt AUS 0.66 26.45 54.69
\n28.24 0.35
\n7 2 5 CSEH Laszlo HUN 0.62 26.53 54.86
\n28.33 0.52
\n8 2 7 di CARLI Marco GER 0.57 26.57 55.03
\n28.46 0.69 <\/p>\n
9 2 6 VYATCHANIN Arkady RUS 0.89 26.55 55.20
\n28.65 0.86
\n10 2 8 FLOREA Razvan ROM 0.63 26.84 55.27
\n28.43 0.93
\n11 1 2 OUYANG Kunpeng CHN 0.53 26.99 55.28
\n28.29 0.94
\n12 1 1 TAIT Gregor GBR 0.61 26.75 55.31
\n28.56 0.97
\n13 1 7 ZANDBERG Gerhard RSA 0.76 26.93 55.76
\n28.83 1.42
\n14 1 8 KOZULJ Gordan CRO 0.68 27.31 56.02
\n28.71 1.68
\n15 1 6 ALEX LIM Keng Liat MAS 0.66 26.80 56.08
\n29.28 1.74
\n16 2 1 DUFOUR Simon FRA 0.68 27.66 56.15
\n28.49 1.81<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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