Aaron Peirsol completed a world record double at the US Swimming Championships with his 200m backstroke triumph on Saturday, but said the battle for supremacy in the event remains wide open. Peirsol clocked 1min 53.08sec to win the 200m backstroke over Ryan Lochte, and eclipse the world record of 1:53.94 set by Lochte in winning Olympic gold in Beijing last August. The performance, in which Peirsol had surged to a commanding advantage by the final turn and held on to the finish, came three days after Peirsol reclaimed the 100m backstroke world record with a time of 51.94sec. Pleased as he was with the time, Peirsol was mindful of the fact that it wasn't, in fact, the fastest 200m backstroke ever. Japan's Ryosuke Irie swam 1:52.86 in Canberra on May 10, slicing 1.08 seconds off Lochte's Beijing Games mark. But FINA refused to ratify the time as a world record because Irie raced in a waist-to-ankle high-tech swimsuit. Peirsol raced in a waist-to-ankle modified Arena X-Glide. Two breaststroke world records came under attack on Saturday, as Eric Shanteau tried to get one and Beijing gold medalist Rebecca Soni tried to improve the other. Shanteau lowered the US record in the men's 200m breaststroke twice in one day, winning the title in 2:08.01. Soni won the event in 2:20.38, with Keri Hehn a distant second in 2:23.70. Cullen Jones bested Garrett Weber-Gale in a swim-off for second place in the 50m freestyle, setting an American record of 21.41sec to seize the second World Championship berth in the event. The two had tied for second in Thursday's final. Two new faces booked their World Championship berths in the men's 1,500m freestyle. Jackson Wilcox, 19, won in 15:11.98, and 18-year-old Brennan Morris was second in 15:13.47. Dana Vollmer added a victory in the women's 100m free to her 200m triumph and runner-up finish in the 100m butterfly. Vollmer won in 54.00sec, holding off the hard-charging Amanda Weir who settled for second in 54.03. Open water standout Chloe Sutton booked a spot in the competition pool in Rome with a victory in the 800m freestyle in 8:29.34. Haley Anderson was second in 8:31.66. Australia's world 100m freestyle record holder Eamon Sullivan will, meanwhile, miss this month's Rome World Championships with a virus, Swimming Australia said on Sunday.
