BELGRADE, Serbia; July 10, 2009 - Participating in his premier event, Pat Schirk advanced to the finals of the 200m backstroke and won silver at the 2009 Universiade Belgrade. The 2009 alum had previously made the 100m backstroke finals and was seeded fourth heading into the 200m backstroke event.
Schirk entered Friday's final fourth on the seeding chart. Schirk then churned out one of the better swims in his career never falling farther behind than third en route to a silver-medal performance, finishing in a time of 1:57.05. Schirk was 2.92 seconds behind near games-record holder Ryosuke Irie of Japan.
Slowest off the board to start, Schirk quickly asserted himself, touching the first wall in third in 27.55. Schirk turned in the fastest 50m time (29.06) heading into the 100m turn, placing second place just .80 off Irie's pace. Schirk would go on to turn in the second-fastest 50m split (29.83) after Irie's (29.40) and closing the final 50m in 30.61.
In the first event of Thursday morning, Schirk kicked off the 200m backstroke with a heat-winning time of 2:00.30. Schirk won the heat in wire-to-wire fashion working out of lane five. His next closest competitor was Artem Dubovskoy of Russia who was 1.14 seconds back.
Earlier in the week, Schirk qualified for the 100m backstroke finals where he tore a tendon in his finger during his final stroke. Despite the injury, Schirk swam his second race of the day on Thursday, capturing third place in the second heat with a qualifying time of 1:59.02. He was third throughout the heat, finishing behind Irie, who set a then-Universiade record (1:56.03), and Japan's Kazuki Watanabe (1:58.10), who earned bronze in the final (1:58.23).
--NITTANY LIONS--