ATHENS, GREECE - Aaron Peirsol has been the best backstroker in the world for the past three years. The seven competitors who joined him in the pool at the Olympic Aquatic Center on Thursday evening ...

ATHENS, Greece -- Aaron Peirsol stood on the deck of the Olympic pool, waiting for his gold medal to be confirmed on the scoreboard. A mere formality. The world's greatest backstroker had touched the ...

OMAHA, Nebraska, July 1. FOR two rounds, Aaron Peirsol toyed with his competition. He did what was necessary to get through the prelims, then picked up the pace a bit in the semifinal round. In the ...

Aaron Peirsol celebrates victory in the men’s 100-meter backstroke with a world-record time of 52.89 seconds at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb., Tuesday. OMAHA, Neb. — Michael Phelps ...

An Aug. 17 Sports article should have listed Austrian swimmer Markus Rogan's high school as Mount Vernon. (Published 8/18/04) ATHENS, Aug. 16 -- By the time Natalie Coughlin stepped to the starting ...

The names of Roland Matthes and Aaron Peirsol are synonymous with backstroke greatness. While Matthes flourished for East Germany from the late 1960s into the 1970s, Peirsol carried the backstroke ...

OMAHA, Neb. — Aaron Peirsol has set a world record in the 100-meter backstroke, beating a strong field at the U.S. Olympic trials with a time of 52.89 seconds. Peirsol broke the record of 52.98 he set ...

ROME, July 27 -- Two weeks ago, U.S. swimmer Aaron Peirsol knocked off the world record in the 100-meter backstroke, then followed that by regaining the world mark in the 200 backstroke. The only ...

ROME — Aaron Peirsol’s second semifinal backstroke event at the FINA World Championships turned out better than the first. The former Newport Harbor High standout advanced out of the semifinals of the ...