It’s Back-to-Back for Krayzelburg

Lenny Krayzelburg became an American citizen two years ago and had to answer some questions to do so.

“It was like, ‘Who is the first president? And, who is the president right now?’ It was pretty simple,” said Krayzelburg, who grew up in Odessa, Ukraine. “When I left, I lost my citizenship there, so I didn’t have any.”

Now, Krayzelburg, 21, has a country, and the United States has a budding backstroke star. All last summer, his USC teammate and Olympic gold medalist Brad Bridgewater kept talking about this guy on campus in the next lane, “the next big thing in the backstroke.”

Sunday, Krayzelburg finished his sweep of the two individual backstroke races, winning the 100 meters in 56.18 seconds at the Janet Evans Invitational at USC. His time was seventh-fastest in the world in 1997.

Bridgewater, who won the 200 backstroke at the Olympics, was second in 56.68. He also placed second behind Krayzelburg in the 200 backstroke at the Evans meet.

“It’s really strange--the other day I was asked whether it’s a rivalry or not,” Krayzelburg said. “Absolutely not. At least I don’t feel that way. We always kid around. The two minutes that you are racing, you want to win. Other than that, we always support each other.”

Said USC Coach Mark Schubert: “He and Brad have a lot to do with each other’s success. They push each other every day in practice and in races.”

Several other races at the meet were not close ones, as had been expected. Kristine Quance of USC took her second individual race, the 200-meter individual medley, in a meet-record 2:16.10, winning by more than two seconds. Arizona teenager Misty Hyman, who is headed to Stanford in the fall, won the 100 butterfly in 59.93, a meet record.

The strongest showing was by Samantha Riley of Australia, who won the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.63, the fastest time in the world this year. Olympic silver medalist Amanda Beard of Irvine was last, finishing in eighth place in 1:13.63, one place behind 12-year-old Carly Geehr of Rose Bowl Aquatics.

Beard, 15, said she was tired after a late night concert and Sunday’s early morning preliminaries. She also said she has been suffering knee pain and pain in her left hip, a result of shooting up to 5 feet 8, growing about four inches since the Olympics.

“I can’t do my best all the time,” she said. “I have to do some horrible times in there. As long as I try to get past it and get ready for nationals, I’ll be just fine.

“I didn’t expect to go that bad. You don’t really expect it. But it’s going to happen sometimes.”

Riley, who once held the world record in the 100 breaststroke, finished third in that event at the Olympics behind Penny Heyns of South Africa and Beard. Her recent performances have provided encouragement for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

“I still don’t think I’ve reached my peak,” she said. “I probably have my eye more on the [world record] in the 200. I was really happy with the 100.”

Michael Klim of Australia punctuated a stellar performance by winning his third individual race, the 100 butterfly, in a meet-record 53.98 seconds. Other winners were Australians Kristy Park (1,500 freestyle), Matthew Dunn (200 individual medley), Jason Samuelson (men’s 1,500 freestyle), Japan’s Tomoko Hagiwara (women’s 100 backstroke) and Canada’s Morgan Knabe (100 breaststroke).