The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Berens, Walters and Peirsol strike gold, set new world records at FINA World Championships
07.31.2009 | Men's Swimming and Diving
July 31, 2009
ROME -- University of Texas rising seniors Ricky Berens and Dave Walters formed half of Team USA's gold medal-winning and world record-setting 800-meter freestyle relay, and Texas-Ex Aaron Peirsol smashed his 200-meter backstroke world record en route to gold on day six of the 2009 FINA World Championships.
Berens (Charlotte, N.C.) and Walters (Yorktown, Va.) joined Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte to help the USA to gold in the 800m freestyle relay in 6 minutes, 58.55 seconds, a mark that narrowly eclipsed the world record of 6:58.56 set by Berens, Phelps, Lochte and Peter Vanderkaay at the Beijing Olympics.
Phelps led off the relay in 1:44.49, and Berens followed in 1:44.13 to put the Americans on top for good with the second-fastest split among the 32 legs swum in the event. Walters split 1:45.47 on the third leg before Lochte anchored in 1:44.46 to produce the winning mark of 6:58.55. Russia took the silver in 6:59.15, and Australia took the bronze in 7:01.65.
Berens captures his second gold of the world championships after swimming in the preliminary round of the 400m freestyle relay, an event claimed by the Americans in the finals. The gold is the first earned by Walters by swimming in the finals of an event at a world championship or Olympic meet. Walters earned gold at the Beijing Olympics after swimming in the preliminary round of the 800m freestyle relay.
After suffering a disappointing finish in the 100m backstroke semifinals earlier in the meet, Peirsol made amends in the 200m backstroke finals, as he obliterated his world record in the event on his way to gold. Peirsol finished in 1:51.92, well under his pre-existing world record of 1:53.08 set on July 11 at the USA National Championships. Japan's Ryosuke Irie won the silver in 1:52.51, and Lochte captured the bronze in 1:53.82.
Eric Shanteau of Longhorn Aquatics narrowly missed on a gold medal in the 200m breaststroke, as he finished one one-hundredth of a second behind Hungary's Daniel Gyurta in a very tight race. Gyurta took the gold in 2:07.64, and Shanteau took the silver in 2:07.65. Lithuania's Giedrius Titenis and Australia's Christian Sprenger followed closely behind and tied for the bronze in 2:07.80.
