200 m backstroke, men

What to remember

At the World Championships in Rome on July 31, 2009, Aaron Peirsol swam the 200 m backstroke in 1 min 51.92 s in a long course pool. The American backstroker, who swam for the University of Texas, built most of his career on this stroke.

The numbers of his career speak clearly. A three-time Olympian, he won seven Olympic medals, five gold and two silver. Counting the Olympics, the World Championships, the Pan American Games and the Pan Pacific Championships, he collected thirty-six medals in major international competition, twenty-nine of them gold. He also held the 100 m backstroke world record and won ten long course world titles.

The men's 200 m backstroke had a long Olympic absence: raced in 1900, dropped in 1904, it only returned in 1964. Women have swum it at the Games since 1968, and the event has been on the World Championships program since the first edition, in 1973.