Krayzelburg Is Set for Memorable Mark

Thursday proved to be a night of rest for most of the region’s swimmers at the Phillips 66 U.S. National Swimming Championships in Nashville, but tonight should bring plenty of excitement for Lenny Krayzelburg of Studio City.

Krayzelburg, a senior at USC, will shoot for the American record in the 200-meter backstroke in the final day of competition at the Tracy Caulkins Competition Pool.

Tripp Schwenk of Sarasota, Fla., set the U.S. record of 1:58.33 at the U.S. Nationals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in 1995.

Krayzelburg will duel with former USC teammate Brad Bridgewater and Neil Walker, who Krayzelburg narrowly defeated in the 100 backstroke final Tuesday. His time of 54.69 was the fifth fastest in the world.

Not bad for somebody who came out of nowhere and didn’t become an American citizen until two years ago.

Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Krayzelburg emigrated to the United States in 1989 and learned to speak English while training with a club team in Santa Monica.

After attending Fairfax High, which doesn’t field a swim team, Krayzelburg briefly swam at Santa Monica College before enrolling at USC in 1995.

Krayzelburg burst upon the national scene--winning both backstroke events--at the 1996 Summer Nationals. Despite making the finals at the NCAAs and the Olympic Trials, he was still an unknown. Most media reports misspelled his name.

Now, that is changing.

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Former Rio Mesa High standout Sarah Nichols was the highest local finisher in the women’s 800 freestyle, finishing 15th. Only the swimmers with the top eight preliminary times made the final on Thursday. The preliminaries were Wednesday. Krayzelburg was 24th in the 50 freestyle preliminaries Thursday morning but didn’t swim in the bonus final. Mark Warkentin was 23rd and Matt Carter 27th in the men’s 1,500 preliminaries. Both swim for Buenaventura Swim Club.