Friday, July 30, 2021
Indiana Swim Club Teammates Share Podium, Murphy Adds Silver to Backstroke Legacy
The U.S. added three more medals to its count on the third-to-last day of swimming finals at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Decorated veterans Lilly King (Evansville, Ind./Indiana Swim Club) and Ryan Murphy (Jacksonville, Fla./California Aquatics/Bolles) added medals to their historic careers, while Olympic rookie Annie Lazor (Beverly Hills, Mich./Mission Viejo Nadadores) earned her first.
The Tokyo morning kicked off with another signature performance from Caeleb Dressel (Green Cove Springs, Fla./Gator Swim Club), this time in the semifinal of the 100-meter butterfly. Dressel scorched the field, stopping the clock in 49.71, good for a new Olympic record and the only swim in the semis under :50.
“I was happy with it,” Dressel said. “I wanted to try and get some speed up front, and then towards the end, I thought my peripherals were showing correctly so I shut it down a bit towards the end. I’m happy with the time and looking forward to the final in the morning.”
The swim is the third fastest of all time and gives Dressel 12 of the top-20 swims in the history of the event. He will enter tomorrow’s final as top seed and in search for the third medal of his time in Tokyo. U.S. teammate Tom Shields (Huntington Beach, Calif./California Aquatics) finished 15th, in 51.99, and will not advance to the final.
Indiana Swim Club teammates King and Lazor took the blocks next and posted mesmerizing performances. They entered the final of the 200m breaststroke sharing a lane line, just as they did at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming, when they punched their tickets to Tokyo.
“We go through practice every day together, we went through Trials together, we do it here together, so that is kind of the way we have always planned it,” King said. “We always learn to do it together. I’m just really, really excited for this moment.”
The race was strong from the start, seeing multiple athletes in medal contention at the 100-meter mark. King was out incredibly fast, even finding herself ahead of the world-record line, along with South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker, at the halfway point.
As the race entered its back half, Lazor started to climb, posting 50-meter splits of 36.12 and 36.11 to close. In the end, King won silver in 2:19.92 while Lazor followed with bronze in 2:20.84.
“We had two great swims and I’m so happy to be able to do it with her, just like practice every day,” Lazor said. “I feel amazing but I still don’t feel like it has sunk in yet, honestly.”
Schoenmaker claimed gold in a world-record time of 2:18.95.
Next up was the men’s 200m backstroke, where Cal teammates, Murphy and Bryce Mefford (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Sierra Marlins Swim Team/Cal), looked to build on the momentum set forth by King and Lazor.
Evgeny Rylov, of the Russian Olympic Committee, took the race out strong. Rylov led from start to finish and claimed gold in an Olympic-record time of 1:53.27. Murphy held strong in second place for nearly the entire race, posting 50-meter splits of 27.11, 28.52, 29.02 and 29.50 to win silver in 1:54.15. The medal makes Murphy one of seven U.S. swimmers who currently have multiple medals in Tokyo.
For Mefford, he ended in fourth in 1:55.49, which was .77 off a podium position. Mefford’s time is his second-fastest swim ever and earns him the lifelong title of Olympic finalist.
Rounding out the morning’s finals was the women’s 100m freestyle and men’s 200m I.M., which both had one U.S. swimmer in the final.
In the women’s 100m freestyle, Abbey Weitzeil (Santa Clarita, Calif./California Aquatics) posted a 53.23 to finish eighth. The time was seven hundredths faster than her swim in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Medals were claimed by Australia’s Emma McKeon (gold, 51.96), Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (silver, 52.27) and Australia’s Cate Campbell (bronze, 52.52).
In the men’s 200m I.M., Michael Andrew (Encinitas, Calif./MA Swim Academy) finished fifth in 1:57.31. Following his typical race strategy of taking it out fast, Andrew found himself in first place going into the final 50 meters before having members of the field surpass him. Andrew will swim again tonight (Japan Standard Time) in the prelims of the 50m freestyle for his final attempt at an individual medal in Tokyo.
“(The Olympic Games) has just been an incredible experience,” Andrew said. “Not in the fact that it is a big ‘wow’ factor, the incredible experience comes more from the fact that it really is just another meet.”
The final event of the night was the women’s 200m backstroke semifinal, where Phoebe Bacon and Rhyan White claimed second and third seeds ahead of tomorrow’s final. If they can medal together, they will be the eighth U.S. duo who has shared a swimming podium during the team’s time in Tokyo.
Action continues at 7 p.m. JST / 6 a.m. ET with prelims of the men’s and women’s 50m freestyle, men’s 1500m freestyle and the men’s and women’s 4x100m medley relay.
The Tokyo morning kicked off with another signature performance from Caeleb Dressel (Green Cove Springs, Fla./Gator Swim Club), this time in the semifinal of the 100-meter butterfly. Dressel scorched the field, stopping the clock in 49.71, good for a new Olympic record and the only swim in the semis under :50.
“I was happy with it,” Dressel said. “I wanted to try and get some speed up front, and then towards the end, I thought my peripherals were showing correctly so I shut it down a bit towards the end. I’m happy with the time and looking forward to the final in the morning.”
The swim is the third fastest of all time and gives Dressel 12 of the top-20 swims in the history of the event. He will enter tomorrow’s final as top seed and in search for the third medal of his time in Tokyo. U.S. teammate Tom Shields (Huntington Beach, Calif./California Aquatics) finished 15th, in 51.99, and will not advance to the final.
Indiana Swim Club teammates King and Lazor took the blocks next and posted mesmerizing performances. They entered the final of the 200m breaststroke sharing a lane line, just as they did at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming, when they punched their tickets to Tokyo.
“We go through practice every day together, we went through Trials together, we do it here together, so that is kind of the way we have always planned it,” King said. “We always learn to do it together. I’m just really, really excited for this moment.”
The race was strong from the start, seeing multiple athletes in medal contention at the 100-meter mark. King was out incredibly fast, even finding herself ahead of the world-record line, along with South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker, at the halfway point.
As the race entered its back half, Lazor started to climb, posting 50-meter splits of 36.12 and 36.11 to close. In the end, King won silver in 2:19.92 while Lazor followed with bronze in 2:20.84.
“We had two great swims and I’m so happy to be able to do it with her, just like practice every day,” Lazor said. “I feel amazing but I still don’t feel like it has sunk in yet, honestly.”
Schoenmaker claimed gold in a world-record time of 2:18.95.
Next up was the men’s 200m backstroke, where Cal teammates, Murphy and Bryce Mefford (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Sierra Marlins Swim Team/Cal), looked to build on the momentum set forth by King and Lazor.
Evgeny Rylov, of the Russian Olympic Committee, took the race out strong. Rylov led from start to finish and claimed gold in an Olympic-record time of 1:53.27. Murphy held strong in second place for nearly the entire race, posting 50-meter splits of 27.11, 28.52, 29.02 and 29.50 to win silver in 1:54.15. The medal makes Murphy one of seven U.S. swimmers who currently have multiple medals in Tokyo.
For Mefford, he ended in fourth in 1:55.49, which was .77 off a podium position. Mefford’s time is his second-fastest swim ever and earns him the lifelong title of Olympic finalist.
Rounding out the morning’s finals was the women’s 100m freestyle and men’s 200m I.M., which both had one U.S. swimmer in the final.
In the women’s 100m freestyle, Abbey Weitzeil (Santa Clarita, Calif./California Aquatics) posted a 53.23 to finish eighth. The time was seven hundredths faster than her swim in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Medals were claimed by Australia’s Emma McKeon (gold, 51.96), Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (silver, 52.27) and Australia’s Cate Campbell (bronze, 52.52).
In the men’s 200m I.M., Michael Andrew (Encinitas, Calif./MA Swim Academy) finished fifth in 1:57.31. Following his typical race strategy of taking it out fast, Andrew found himself in first place going into the final 50 meters before having members of the field surpass him. Andrew will swim again tonight (Japan Standard Time) in the prelims of the 50m freestyle for his final attempt at an individual medal in Tokyo.
“(The Olympic Games) has just been an incredible experience,” Andrew said. “Not in the fact that it is a big ‘wow’ factor, the incredible experience comes more from the fact that it really is just another meet.”
The final event of the night was the women’s 200m backstroke semifinal, where Phoebe Bacon and Rhyan White claimed second and third seeds ahead of tomorrow’s final. If they can medal together, they will be the eighth U.S. duo who has shared a swimming podium during the team’s time in Tokyo.
Action continues at 7 p.m. JST / 6 a.m. ET with prelims of the men’s and women’s 50m freestyle, men’s 1500m freestyle and the men’s and women’s 4x100m medley relay.