Ryan Murphy is aiming to do something no other male swimmer has ever done in Olympic history, and he faced a key test in that quest on Sunday in Paris.
Murphy is trying to become the first male swimmer to win medals in three consecutive Olympics in both the 100m backstroke and the 200m backstroke, and competed in the semifinals of the 100m discipline on Sunday.
Murphy, racing in the first of two semifinal races, finished in fourth in his heat with a time of 52.72 seconds. The top-three finishers in each semifinal automatically qualified for the final, with the remaining two fastest times also getting into the eight-man field.
Fortunately for Murphy, his time stood up well against those competing in the second semifinal, and he ended up with the fifth-best time, qualifying for Monday’s final in the event.
China’s Jiayu Xu flirted with a world record in the 100m backstroke before finishing with a time of 52.02 seconds, half a second faster than Italy’s Thomas Ceccon.
Murphy’s fellow American Hunter Armstrong finished 11th and did not qualify for the final.
Murphy’s quest will continue Monday, with the 100m final set for 2:19 p.m. CT.
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He’ll start his road toward getting into the 200m backstroke final with his preliminary heat race on Wednesday, with the starting gun scheduled to be fired at 4:33 a.m. CT.
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