After failing to make 100 backstroke final, Peirsol has a new plan for the 200

Peirsol has a new plan for 200 back

ROME — Aaron Peirsol doesn’t plan on making the same mistake twice.

Three days after the Olympic champion failed to qualify for the 100-meter backstroke final at the world championships, the American has a new strategy for Thursday’s semifinals in the 200 back.

“It’s my only individual swim now. I’ll be gunning for it absolutely — probably more so than usual,” Peirsol said after qualifying second in morning heats. “It will be much safer, much safer.”

Ryosuke Irie of Japan led the heats in 1 minute, 55.20 seconds and Peirsol clocked 1:55.88 — well off his world record of 1:53.08 set at the U.S. championships in Indianapolis earlier this month but right up there with the other contenders.

“I’ve been waiting to get my heart rate up for a while now, so it feels good,” Peirsol said.

Peirsol’s teammate Ryan Lochte qualified third in 1:55.97. Lochte and Peirsol finished 1-2 in this event at last year’s Olympics.

Lochte will also swim the 200 individual medley final Thursday night, after tying Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh for first in the semifinals Wednesday.

“I wasn’t really happy with last night’s performance. For as much as I tried, I kind of wished it was a lot faster,” Lochte said. “Tonight is going to be a good race. There’s about four guys right there. All the world records are getting broken, so everybody is going to get ready.”

Twenty-two world records have been set through the first four days of the worlds. At the last worlds in Melbourne, Australia, two years ago, only 15 records were set. The record rush has been attributed to 100 percent polyurethane bodysuits, which will be banned next year.

Peirsol has one of the new suits from Arena but he made an elementary miscalculation and finished ninth in the 100 back semis, one spot too low to make the final, which he watched from the stands at the Foro Italico.

Peirsol could have taken some consolation from the fact that the winner, Juny Koga of Japan, did not come close to breaking his world record.

“It was hard to swallow, but at the same time I had already moved on, I was already ready for (the 200),” Peirsol said. “I’ve just never seen a 100 back from the stands at world championships, so I thought it would be good to watch.”

Michael Phelps had the day off, his only full day of rest of the championships.

Another American, Amanda Weir, led the women’s 100 freestyle heats in 53.20 seconds, while Olympic champion Britta Steffen of Germany was fourth.

Steffen set a new world record of 52.22 seconds on Sunday in the first leg of the 400 freestyle relay.

Championship records were set in both the men’s and women’s 200 breaststroke heats.

Eric Shanteau of the United States, who put off cancer treatment to compete in Beijing, clocked 2:08.55 to eclipse Kosuke Kitajima’s six-year-old mark from the 2003 worlds in Barcelona.

Kitajima, who has won this event at the last two Olympics, is taking this year off.

Olympic bronze medalist Hugues Duboscq of France qualified in 11th and Beijing silver medalist Brenton Rickard of Australia barely made it in 16th — the final qualifying spot.

In the women’s heats, Annamay Pierse of Canada touched in 2:21.68, shaving four hundredths off Australian Leisel Jones’ mark from the 2005 worlds in Montreal.

Olympic champion and world record holder Rebecca Soni of the United States qualified second in 2:22.09.

The bronze medalist from last year’s Beijing Games, Sara Nordenstam of Norway, failed to qualify, finishing nearly six seconds behind Pierse in 22nd.

A third championship record in the session was set by Britain in the women’s 800 freestyle relay.

Caitlin McClatchey, Jazmin Carlin, Hannah Miley and Rebecca Adlington posted a time of 7:49.04, improving the Americans’ time in Melbourne by about a second.

The United States, which swam in the same heat as Britain, qualified second, while world record-holder and Beijing champion Australia was fifth. Italy, led by freshly crowned 200 and 400 free individual champion Federica Pellegrini in the anchor position, just made it to the final in eighth.