Ryan Murphy Stalking Historical past – and Legends – At Olympic Video games in Paris
The names of Roland Matthes and Aaron Peirsol are synonymous with backstroke greatness. Whereas Matthes flourished for East Germany from the late Nineteen Sixties into the Seventies, Peirsol carried the backstroke banner for america throughout the opening decade of the 2000s. With 5 particular person medals every, they share the report for backstroke {hardware} earned on the Olympic Video games.
Not less than for now.
Set to make his third Olympic look for Workforce USA, Ryan Murphy heads to the Paris Video games with 4 medals within the backstroke disciplines. He was the gold medalist within the 100 and 200 distances on the 2016 Video games in Rio de Janeiro and added silver within the 200 again and bronze within the 100 again on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Murphy may have the chance to equal or surpass Matthes and Peirsol within the French capital, as he lately certified for each occasions at america Olympic Trials. In Indianapolis, Murphy prevailed within the 100 backstroke behind a time of 52.22, and later added the title within the 200 backstroke with a swim of 1:54.33.
On the 2024 Video games, Murphy will battle a stacked discipline within the 100 backstroke, with Italian world-record holder Thomas Ceccon and American Hunter Armstrong looming as obstacles. Within the 200 backstroke, Murphy will see the likes of Hungarian Hubert Kos, who gained gold within the occasion on the 2023 World Championships.
If Murphy can declare a pair of medals within the backstroke occasions, he’ll eclipse two titans of the game. Matthes was the 100 and 200 backstroke Olympic champion in 1968 and 1972, and added a bronze within the 100 distance in 1976. Peirsol, in the meantime, was the silver medalist within the 200 again in 2000, doubled within the 100 and 200 occasions in 2004 and added gold within the 100 again and silver within the 200 again on the 2008 Video games.
Murphy has all the time appreciated the historical past of the game, particularly those that have come earlier than him in america.
“It’s taking a look at how the earlier generations handled me,” he instructed Paris 2024. “I’m so grateful for the help that they’ve proven me, and I believe they’ve performed that every one in several methods. Lenny Krayzelburg is somebody who I’ve actually linked with through the years, and we simply form of bond on the uncooked competitiveness. We actually wish to get in some work and attempt to maximize health. After which I believe there’s somebody like Aaron Peirsol who has received that uncooked competitiveness as nicely. However he likes to speak a bit bit extra concerning the circulate of the stroke and the method and how one can stability working for a 200 again with the 100 again. For the era that’s arising behind me, I believe the best factor to do is simply sharing experiences that I’ve had, like, what has the ultimate regarded just like the final 5 years? And the way do folks react to stress? What are their instincts? And form of passing on actual race suggestions.”
