Diana Sport

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.  In 2007, he collected the $100,000 prize purse offered by and Fina in the Fina World Cup. At the 2008 FINA Short Course World Championships in Manchester, he took the silver medal in the 100 Back, but he finished a surprising 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 competing at the 2008 FINA World Cup, looking for a repeat title. In some meets, he is facing a familiar rival from Manchester, Russia's Stanislav Donets. In the first meet in Belo Horizonte, Bal's 21-race winning streak in the World Cup came to an end with a loss to Donets in the 100 Back, but he rebounded on Day 2 to beat Donets in both the 50 and 200 Back. At the next meet, in Durban, South Africa, he swam a stellar 100 Back to  He is World Record holder in 50 backstroke for Short and Long Course.