Cal Swimmers Keaton Jones, Hugo Gonzalez Miss Olympic Podium

The two finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the men's 200 backstroke final at Paris

Keaton Jones / Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Cal put two swimmers in Thursday’s final of the 200-meter backstroke at the Paris Olympics, but neither found his way to the medal podium.

Keaton Jones, 19, who just completed his freshman season at Cal, finished fifth and 2022 graduate Hugo Gonzalez of Spain touched the wall in sixth place.

Absent from the race was Cal swim legend Ryan Murphy, whose bid to win medals in both the 100 and 200 backstroke at three straight Olympics was derailed when he failed to finish among the top eight in the event’s semifinals.

Hubert Kos, a 21-year-old who competes at Arizona State, won the race in a time of 1:54.26, giving Hungary its first gold medal in any event at Paris.

Apostolos Christou, 27, of Greece won silver in 1:54.82, barely holding off Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov, who took the bronze medal after touching in 1:54.85.

Jones, who took second behind training partner Murphy at the U.S. trials, swam 1:55.39 — exactly one second faster than he posted in the semifinals — to secure fifth place. Jones is a native of Gilbert, Arizona, whose grandfather played football at Oklahoma.

This marked the first time in 32 years the U.S. has not landed at least one swimmer on the medal podium in the 200 back.

Gonzalez was the eighth and final qualifier to the final and moved up two spots to sixth after swimming 1:55.47.

Elsewhere in the pool on Thursday: 

Bjorn Seeliger, Sweden: The 6-foot-8 Seeliger, who completed his Cal eligibility this past season, was sidelined after finishing seventh in his first-round heat of the 50 freestyle in 22.21. He was 31st overall and only the top 16 finishers along 73 entries in 10 heats advanced.

In his second Olympics, Seeliger placed seventh in the 50 free at the World Championships earlier this year but won’t get the chance to match that in Paris.

Ayla Spitz, Israel: A 2023 graduate of Cal, Spitz and her Israeli teammates finished sixth in their heat of the women’s 4x200 free relay in 7:55.99. They were 11th overall, with only the top eight advancing to the final. A first-time Olympian, Spitz was part of a gold-medal winning relay at the European Championships in June.