Ohio State Buckeye Hunter Armstrong came out blazing in the prelims of the Phillips 66 International Team Trials 50-meter backstroke this morning, going 24.01 to best Ryan Murphy's 2018 record of 24.24.

Armstrong, who tied for fourth in Tuesday's 100m freestyle, will enter as top seed in tonight's 50m back final ahead of his U.S. National Team teammate Justin Ress, who also bested Murphy's record by going 24.05 this morning. 

Armstrong's time is nearly a second-and-a-half faster than his previous personal best in the event, which he posted in May 2021. Should Armstrong or any other swimmer in tonight's final break the :24 mark, they would join Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov as the only swimmer to ever post a 23-second time.

The women's 50m backstroke prelims also saw a record go down as Stanford's Regan Smith clocked a 27.40 to capture a new U.S. Open record for fastest time recorded on American soil. Smith was only seven hundredths behind Olivia Smoliga's American-record swim from 2019.

Coming in as the second seed in tonight's women's final will be NC State's Katharine Berkoff, who posted an impressive time of 27.44 to catapult her from the 18th fastest American in event history to the third. Smoliga rounded out the top-3 prelims finishers with a 27.75.

Both finals of the 50m backstroke will be contested in tonight's final, which begins at 6 p.m. ET on Olympic Channel. For additional coverage of the 2022 Phillips 66 International Team Trials, head to https://www.usaswimming.org/event/2022/04/26/default-calendar/Phillips-66-International-Team-Trials/.