Ryan Murphy Fails to Qualify for 200 Backstroke Final at Olympics

Jack Alexy finishes seventh in 100 freestyle final. Two Cal swimmers reach backstroke final

Ryan Murphy / Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports

Cal swimmers Ryan Murphy and Jack Alexy were expected to have big days at the Olympics on Wednesday. It didn’t happen. 

Murphy failed to qualify for the final in the 200-meter backstroke, and Alexy finished seventh in the 100-meter freestyle final.

Two Cal-affiliated swimmers, Keaton Jones and Hugo Gonzalez, did reach the final of the 200 backstroke, however.

Ryan Murphy, USA: The 29-year-old Murphy, a 2017 Cal graduate who is competing in his third Olympics, has won seven Olympic medals in his career and was hoping to become the first male swimmer to win medals in both backstroke events in three consecutive Olympics.

But that will not happen, as he finished sixth in his semifinal heat and 10th overall, and only the top eight swimmers qualify for the final. Murphy faded badly in the final 50 meters to finish in a time of 1:56.62, which was 0.10 of a second slower than the eighth and last qualifier for the final.

Murphy won a gold medal in the 200-meter backstroke in the 2016 Olympics and a silver medal in that event in the 2020 Olympics, and he was projected to medal in these Olympics.

He won a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke on Monday, and presumably will be participating in the 4x100 medley relay for the United States.

Jack Alexy, USA: Alexy was considered a medal contender in the 100-meter freestyle and was among the leaders after the first 50 meters in the final. But he could not keep up with the pack in the final 50 and finished seventh in a time of 47.96 seconds.

There was no way he was going to win the gold medal as a Pan Zhanle of China won the event in a world-record time of 46.40 seconds. Pan finished 1.08 seconds ahead of silver medalist Kyle Chalmers of Australia, and Pan was 1.09 seconds in front of third-place finisher David Popovici of Romania. Alexy was nearly a half-second behind the Popovici.

Jack Alexy won a gold medal on Saturday as part of the United States 4x100 freestyle relay team. The 6-foot-8 Alexy recently completed his junior year at Cal

Keaton Jones, USA: Jones, a 19-year-old who just completed her freshman year at Cal and finished second to Murphy in the U.S. Open trials, placed fourth in the same 200-meter backstroke semifinal heat as Murphy. Jones' time of 1:56.39 was the sixth-best overall, qualifying him for the final.

Hugo Gonzalez, Spain: Gonzalez got the last berth in the 200-meter backstroke final, as he had the eighth-fastest time overall (1:56.52) after placing third in his semifinal heat. Gonzalez was a 2022 graduate of Cal whose final year on the Golden Bears’ swimming team was 2023. He is competing in his third Olympics.

Ziyad Saleem, Sudan: Saleem competed in the preliminary heats in the 200-meter backstroke but did not qualify for the semifinals. He finished fifth in his heat in a time of 2:01.44, which was the 27th-fastest time overall, leaving him out of the 16-swimmer semifinal. Saleem recently completed his junior year at Cal, and this is his first Olympics. He was born in Milwaukee but holds dual citizenship, which enables him to in the Olympics for his parents’ homeland. Most of Saleem’s relatives have left Sudan because of the war and humanitarian issues.

Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport