Bal wins two at FINA World Cup in Durban

The second leg of the Fina World Cup 2008 took place last weekend in Durban, South Africa. Randall Bal emerged as the top American swimmer of the meet, taking first in the 50m and 100m backstrokes.

Bal edged out fellow American and former Stanford University teammate Peter Marshall in both events, winning the 50m back in 23.64 and the 100m back in 50.88. Marshall finished less than a tenth of a second behind in the 50m back (23.73) and 1.14 seconds behind in the 100m back (52.02).

Other American finalists in Durban included Kicker Vencill, who finished sixth in the 50m free (22.62) and fifth in the 100m free (48.96).

For complete results from Durban, go to omegatiming.com.

The next stop on the FINA World Cup series is Oct. 25-26 in Sydney, Australia. Live streaming video of the meet in Sydney can be found on fina.org. For more information about the FINA World Cup 2008, go to fina.org.