Randall Bal

Randall Bal (born November 14, 1980 in Fair Oaks, California) is a backstroke swimmer from the United States, who represented his native country at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, where he won the gold medal in the 50 m backstroke. He has swum under coach Mike Hastings at California Capital Aquatics since he was four years old. Bal, nicknamed "Turbo", attended the Stanford University, where he studied psychology.

Personal life

Bal was born to Adrian and Carol Bal. Adrian is a pharmacist and his mother is a notary. He has two sisters. His oldest sister, Robyn, swam for Brigham Young University. His younger sister, Tamara, swam at UCLA. Bal attended Bella Vista High School where he graduated in 1999. From there, he swam for Stanford University, class of 2003, and graduated with a degree in psychology. He is sponsored by Speedo. In 2007, he collected the $100,000 prize purse offered by Arena and Fina in the Fina World Cup. At the 2008 FINA World Short Course Championships in Manchester, he took the silver medal in the 100 Back, but he finished a suprising sixth (his PB would have won the event) in the 50 Back. He won another silver on the medley relay. He was the top qualifier in the 100 Back at the 2008 Olympic Trials, in both the preliminaries and semi-finals, with the then-third fastest time ever in the semis (53.09), but he faded to fourth in the finals, finishing behind Aaron Peirsol, who set a new World Record of 52.89, Matt Grevers, and Ryan Lochte. Bal is scheduled to compete at the 2008 FINA/ARENA World Cup, looking for a repeat title. In the first meet, he will face a familar rival from Manchester, Russia's Stanislav Donets.

ee also

*Pan American Games records in swimming

External links

* [http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/m-swim/mtt/bal_randall00.html Profile on Stanford-site]
* [http://www.fina.org/bios/archives/bio_Bal.html Profile on FINA-site]
* [http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/DesktopModules/BioView.aspx?personid=120459c9-c968-4fb4-93ad-94ceac8db87e&TabId=388&Mid=597 USA Swimming profile]
* Profile & Results on [http://www.swimpassion.net/Athletes/randallbal.html SwimPassion.net]

References