Ryan Murphy has the potential to do something no other male swimmer has ever done in Olympic history, but he’ll need to swim exceptionally well on Monday.
Murphy is attempting to become the first male swimmer to win medals in both the 100 and 200 backstroke in three consecutive Olympic Games.
To do that, he’ll need a big win in the backstroke final on Monday.
Murphy’s quest begins at 2:19 pm CST and will be broadcast live on NBC 5.
Competing in the first of two semifinal races on Sunday, Murphy qualified fourth with a time of 52.72 seconds. The top three runners in each semifinal automatically advance to the final, with the two fastest times also competing in a field of eight.
Fortunately for Murphy, his time was comparable to the competitors in the second semi-final, ultimately finishing fifth best, earning him a spot in Monday’s final.
China’s Xu Jiayu came close to breaking the world record in the 100m backstroke, finishing in 52.02 seconds, half a second faster than Italy’s Thomas Ceccon.
He’ll begin his path to the 200 backstroke final with a qualifying race on Wednesday, with the starting gun scheduled to go off at 4:33 a.m. CST.
In this episode of Hometown Hopefuls, NBC Chicago’s Alex Maragos speaks with Olympic swimmer Ryan Murphy as the Chicago suburban native discusses his hopes for a third Olympic Games and how he got to where he is today.
