Peirsol captured the first world record of his career with a time of 1min 55.15secs at the US spring national championships.

The previous record was set by Olympic gold medallist Lenny Krayzelburg in 1999.

"It wasn't cockiness. I wasn't being cocky at all.

"I was just confident before the race that everything was going to go as planned. It just felt like a world-record race.

"It was pretty sweet," added Peirsol, who out distanced the rest of the field by more than five seconds. "I'm elated."

Afterwards, he was swarmed by his elated team-mates and his coach, Dave Salo.

"Dave was crying, my sister was crying," Peirsol said.

"I think I was the only one who wasn't crying. I was too tired to cry."

Salo said Peirsol, 18, has been training really well over the last three months and said he knew his accomplishment was just a matter of time.

"He's a great kid," Salo said. "I've been fortunate enough to have some great athletes in my life, and he's one of the good ones.

"He's been after this since he was 13, and it's good to see the things you talk to your athletes about come to fruition."