Peirsol expects record to fall as rivals take aim

Rome: Backstroke ace Aaron Peirsol expects another world record to fall in the 100 metres final later this week after being pushed hard by Spanish and Japanese rivals in Monday`s world championship heats.Spain`s Aschwin Wildeboer set a championship record of 52.93 seconds to top the time sheets with Japan`s Ryosuke Irie clocking 53 and American Peirsol, Junya Koga and Briton Liam Tancock swimming 53.08.

An arms race has been hotting up in backstroke for months with the world record being smashed almost at will after the introduction of hi-tech suits, which will be banned from 2010. World and Olympic champion Peirsol snatched a new record of 51.94 at the US trials in Indianapolis earlier this month just days after Wildeboer had broken his previous record. "I`m starting to think a world record would win. That would be good. That would probably do it," Peirsol told reporters ahead of the semi-finals later on Monday and Tuesday`s final. Six world records were destroyed on the opening day of swimming competition on Sunday and Gemma Spofforth almost broke another in the women`s 100 backstroke heats. The Briton zoomed through the water in 58.78, just a fingertip away from Kirsty Coventry`s record of 58.77. "I`m very happy with that. I`m completely surprised. I wasn`t expecting that at all," she said. A championship record then melted in the warm waters of the Foro Italico`s outdoor pool when America`s Rebecca Soni bagged 1 minute 5.66 in the women`s 100 breaststroke preliminaries. Dane Lotte Friis was quickest in the 1,500 freestyle heats. Michael Phelps glided in second in the men`s 200 freestyle heats behind Germany`s Paul Biedermann, who ripped up Ian Thorpe`s 400 freestyle world record to win gold on Sunday. "I guess you noticed yesterday, all the guys were swimming faster in the morning. You have to step up in the morning to stay in position," world and Olympic champion Phelps said. Korean Park Tae-hwan, who flopped in Sunday`s 400 heats despite being Olympic champion, qualified eighth in the 200. "I raced better than I did yesterday. I was thinking a lot about it last night. I was ashamed of my performance," he said. Bureau Report