Peirsol Sets World Record in 100-Meter Backstroke

Aaron Peirsol broke his world record in the 100-meter backstroke Saturday night, swimming a surprising 53.17 seconds in the U.S. trials for this summer’s world championships at Indianapolis.

Peirsol, who won three Olympic gold medals last year, had a time of just under 55 seconds in the preliminaries. He said he wasn’t thinking of lowering his mark of 53.45 set at the Athens Games.

“I think it’s rare you surprise yourself like that,” Peirsol said. “It’s good that I still can.”

Randall Bal of Stanford was second at 54.01, and Matt Grevers of Northwestern was third at 54.59.

The winner of each event is guaranteed a spot on the U.S. team that will compete in the world championships July 24-31 in Montreal. Depending on multiple-event winners, second-place finishers could be added to the U.S. squad.

Michael Phelps, who won eight medals at Athens, and 15-year-old Katie Hoff, who set a U.S. record in the 200 individual medley on Friday, became the meet’s first double-winners.

Phelps, who won the 400 freestyle Friday night, won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:46.44. He and the next three finishers -- Peter Vanderkaay, Klete Keller and Ryan Lochte -- automatically qualified for the 800 relay at the world meet. Hoff won the 200 freestyle in 1:59.56.

Natalie Coughlin, who won five Olympic medals, failed to qualify in the 100-meter butterfly Friday and was scratched from the 200 freestyle before winning the 100 backstroke.

Coughlin, a gold medalist in the 100 backstroke at Athens, suffered a stress fracture in her left foot while training in September. She finished third in the butterfly but won the backstroke at 1:01.08, well off her record time of 59.58 seconds.

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Motor Racing

The NASCAR Busch Series Sharpie Professional 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway was postponed because of rain. It will be run Monday at 10:30 am. EDT.

NASCAR officials waited all day Saturday to call the race at Bristol, Tenn., because the infield at the .533-mile oval is so small, the sanctioning body wanted the cars removed before today’s Nextel Cup event.

Qualifying was also rained out, so the field was set by points. Carl Edwards is on the pole in Ford, followed by Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. in Chevrolets.

Fernando Alonso had the best time during the first qualifying session for today’s Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir, where he will attempt to win a second consecutive Formula One race.

The Renault driver was timed in 1 minute 29.848 seconds on the 3.367-mile circuit. Jarno Trulli of Toyota followed in 1:29.993.

Defending champion Michael Schumacher, racing Ferrari’s new car for the first time, was next in 1:30.237.

Track temperatures were above 122 degrees for the first qualifying session. The second session is scheduled four hours before the race, and the combined times will determine starting positions for the 57-lap event.

Bryan Herta had a fast lap of 1 minute 2.51 seconds (103.665 mph) in a Dallara-Honda around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., to win the pole for today’s Indy Racing League Honda Grand Prix.

Helio Castroneves qualified second in a Dallara-Toyota at 103.360 mph, and Tony Kanaan, in a Dallara-Honda, was third at 102.892.

Marco Andretti won a pole on the track, lost it in the post-qualifying inspection and regained it after an appeal by his team. The 18-year-old son of Michael Andretti and grandson of Mario Andretti led the qualifying session for today’s Menards Infiniti Pro Series at St. Petersburg.

His lap averaging 93.472 mph beat the 93.390 of Jeff Simmons and apparently put Andretti on the pole for his first race in the IRL developmental series.

An hour later, Simmons was declared the pole winner and Andretti was relegated to starting at the back of the 13-car field after his car was found to have an illegal aerodynamic setup.

Todd Southwell of San Marcos beat Mike Price of Harbor City by 0.113 of a second to win the Lucas Oil Super Late Models series race at Irwindale Speedway.

James Stewart became the first black rider to win a 250cc THQ AMA Supercross Series race, beating series star Ricky Carmichael in front of 43,276 at Texas Stadium in Irving.

Stewart, from Haines City, Fla., led all 20 laps on his Kawasaki.

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Soccer

Former U.S. international goalkeeper Brad Friedel made several standout saves to help Blackburn hold Manchester United to a 0-0 tie in an English Premier League match.

Friedel, who led the U.S. to the World Cup quarterfinals two years ago, blocked early shots from Wayne Rooney and Mikael Silvestre.

Arsenal moved ahead of Manchester United by beating last-place Norwich, 4-1. Thierry Henry scored three goals and has 10 in his last seven games.

Arsenal and Manchester United trail first-place Chelsea by 13 points. Chelsea beat Southampton, 3-1

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Pro Football

Shane Stafford threw five touchdown passes to lead the Tampa Bay Storm to a 44-38 victory over the Georgia Force in an Arena League game at Tampa, Fla. Stafford completed 24 of 36 passes for 319 yards.... Raymond Philyaw threw four touchdown passes -- two to Henry Douglas -- to help the Chicago Rush beat the New York Dragons, 44-43, at Uniondale, N.Y.

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Miscellany

Texas Tech football Coach Mike Leach received a one-year contract extension through the 2009 season after leading the Red Raiders to their fifth consecutive bowl game.

Luis Collazo (25-1), a substitute called in when No. 1 contender Thomas Damgaard withdrew, outpointed hometown favorite Jose Antonio Rivera (37-4-1) in a 12-round split decision to earn the World Boxing Assn. welterweight championship at Worcester, Mass.

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T.J. Simers is on vacation.