Peirsol, Phelps Debut With Win at Pan Pacific Championships
Great days for the US swimmers at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California as both Aaron Peirsol and Michael Phelps provided the 100m and 200m win at the William Woolett Jr. Aquatics Center. Peirsol took the advantage in the 100m to come home at 53.31 seconds, which was also the meeting record established on Wednesday, while Japan’s Junya Koga came on second with 53.63 seconds. Third fastest American in the morning, Peirsol brought plenty of power to the US team at the championships in Irvine that includes a format that allows only two swimmers from each country to move into the final at night.
“I should start off by thanking Ryan Lochte. I owe him … something after the meet,” said Peirsol, who later in the mixed zone he revealed he was about to give Lochte a beer. However, Lochte claimed on his own that being tired in the morning, this was about to incline him giving up swimming. “After this morning, how bad it hurt, I definitely did not want to swim it again. I was really tired this morning,” but also commented what Peirsol would say to him after the preliminary sessions. “He was like, ‘I think I’ve got to say thank you,’” while Lochte replied: “I was like, ‘Just promise me this, that’ll you’ll whoop up on everyone.’ He was like, ‘All right. Whatever happens, this one is for you,’” Lochte explained. Peirsol said afterwards his fellow shouldn’t do this for him, being more-like an altruist so Peirsol could win the race. “So I wanted to make the most of the opportunity. It was very altruistic of him. He didn’t have to do that for me. No one will leave me alone in that race. It’s me trying to fend off 20 people instead of three,” Peirsol ended.
Wednesday brought an important win for the 25-year-old Michael Phelps who won the 200m butterfly. Tired and in pain, this declared after the race his aware he’s got a lot of work to do, but the effort he’ll be exposed to the following days could be easily passed away as he showed quite happy with the first win. “That was painful. Oh my God. There’s still a lot of work to be done but I’m fairly satisfied. I split it a little better than this morning (in the heats) but there’s some small technical things (to improve), the breathing off the 100 wall, that first stroke off the 100 wall. The fitness level is not there,” said Phelps, who came home the 200m at one minute and 54.11 seconds, while Australian Nick D’Arcy came on second in one minute and 54.73 seconds. Lucky him, Phelps felt pain just 15 meters before the finish so he could struggle and assure the victory. “I was like: ‘Please get to the wall’. I felt the splash from the water in the lane next to me and I was like: ‘Please don’t get run down, please don’t get run down’. So still a long way to go. A long way,” this said.11
