Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 7–8 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.^[1]

Men's 100 metre backstroke at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Aquatics Stadium
Dates	7 August 2016 (heats & semifinals) 8 August 2016 (final)
Competitors	39 from 32 nations
Winning time	51.97 OR
Medalists
Ryan Murphy  United States Xu Jiayu  China David Plummer  United States
← 2012 2020 →

Summary

Ryan Murphy continued the streak of American dominance in the sprint backstroke, as he pulled away from the rest of the field to claim his country's sixth straight Olympic title. He fired off a 51.97 to eclipse Matt Grevers' 2012 Olympic record by 0.19 of a second for gold, making him the only second swimmer in the event's history besides Aaron Peirsol to break the 52-second barrier and the fastest of all time in textile.^[2][3] Meanwhile, China's Xu Jiayu put up a brisk effort to take silver with a 52.31, and spoil the 1–2 finish for the Americans.^[4] Murphy's fellowman David Plummer, aged 30, finished with bronze in 52.40 at his maiden Games.^[5][6]

Leading the race early on the initial length, Australia's defending world champion Mitch Larkin missed the podium with a fourth-place time in 52.43.^[7] France's Camille Lacourt picked up the fifth spot in 52.70, with Russian swimmer and Youth Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov (52.74) trailing him by a 0.04-second margin. Japan's Ryosuke Irie (53.42), the Olympic bronze medalist from London 2012, and Romania's Robert Glință (53.50) rounded out the field.^[6]

The medals for the competition were presented by Albert II, Prince of Monaco, IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Mustapha Larfaoui, FINA honorary life president.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Aaron Peirsol (USA)	51.94	Indianapolis, United States	8 July 2009	[8][9]
Olympic record	Matt Grevers (USA)	52.16	London, United Kingdom	30 July 2012	[10]

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Round	Name	Nation	Time	Record
8 August	Final	Ryan Murphy	United States	51.97	OR

Murphy then set a new world record for the 100 m backstroke with a time of 51.85 seconds on August 13 in the lead-off leg as part of the 4 × 100 m medley relay.

Competition format

The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.^[1]

Results

Heats

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	5	5	Camille Lacourt	France	52.96	Q
2	3	5	Xu Jiayu	China	53.01	Q
3	5	4	Mitch Larkin	Australia	53.04	Q
4	3	4	Ryan Murphy	United States	53.06	Q
5	4	4	David Plummer	United States	53.19	Q
6	3	3	Evgeny Rylov	Russia	53.25	Q
7	5	1	Joshua Beaver	Australia	53.47	Q
8	5	3	Ryosuke Irie	Japan	53.49	Q
9	4	2	Robert Glință	Romania	53.51	Q
10	4	5	Chris Walker-Hebborn	Great Britain	53.54	Q
11	4	3	Grigoriy Tarasevich	Russia	53.65	Q
12	4	6	Christopher Reid	South Africa	53.68	Q
13	5	6	Guilherme Guido	Brazil	53.80	Q
14	3	1	Shane Ryan	Ireland	53.85	Q, NR
15	3	2	Jan-Philip Glania	Germany	53.87	Q
16	2	6	Corey Main	New Zealand	53.99	Q
17	4	7	Javier Acevedo	Canada	54.11
18	5	2	Apostolos Christou	Greece	54.12
19	5	7	Junya Hasegawa	Japan	54.17
20	2	1	Hugo González	Spain	54.18
21	2	5	Li Guangyuan	China	54.36
22	4	8	Quah Zheng Wen	Singapore	54.38
23	4	1	Radosław Kawęcki	Poland	54.39
24	2	4	Danas Rapšys	Lithuania	54.40
25	3	8	Gábor Balog	Hungary	54.48
26	2	3	Tomasz Polewka	Poland	54.52
27	3	7	Yakov Toumarkin	Israel	54.66
28	3	6	Simone Sabbioni	Italy	54.91
29	5	8	Mikita Tsmyh	Belarus	54.97
30	2	7	Won Young-jun	South Korea	55.05
31	2	8	Albert Subirats	Venezuela	55.44
32	2	2	Viktar Staselovich	Belarus	55.68
33	1	4	Merdan Ataýew	Turkmenistan	56.34	NR
34	1	5	Timothy Wynter	Jamaica	57.20
35	1	3	David Van der Colff	Botswana	57.77
36	1	6	Driss Lahrichi	Morocco	58.01
37	1	2	Yaaqoub Al-Saadi	United Arab Emirates	59.58
38	1	1	Hamdan Bayusuf	Kenya	1:00.28
39	1	7	Noah Al-Khulaifi	Qatar	1:07.47

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	5	Ryan Murphy	United States	52.49	Q
2	4	Xu Jiayu	China	52.73	Q
3	3	Evgeny Rylov	Russia	52.84	Q
4	6	Irie Ryosuke	Japan	53.21	Q
5	7	Christopher Reid	South Africa	53.70
6	2	Chris Walker-Hebborn	Great Britain	53.75
7	8	Corey Main	New Zealand	54.29
8	1	Shane Ryan	Ireland	54.40

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	3	David Plummer	United States	52.50	Q
2	5	Mitch Larkin	Australia	52.70	Q
3	4	Camille Lacourt	France	52.72	Q
4	2	Robert Glință	Romania	53.34	Q, NR
5	7	Grigoriy Tarasevich	Russia	53.46
6	8	Jan-Philip Glania	Germany	53.94
7	6	Joshua Beaver	Australia	53.95
8	1	Guilherme Guido	Brazil	54.16

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4	Ryan Murphy	United States	51.97	OR
	2	Xu Jiayu	China	52.31	NR
	5	David Plummer	United States	52.40
4	3	Mitch Larkin	Australia	52.43
5	6	Camille Lacourt	France	52.70
6	7	Evgeny Rylov	Russia	52.74
7	1	Ryosuke Irie	Japan	53.42
8	8	Robert Glință	Romania	53.50

References

1. "Men's 100m Backstroke". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
2. Auerbach, Nicole (8 August 2016). "American Ryan Murphy wins gold in men's 100 back". USA Today. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
3. "Ryan Murphy extends U.S. gold streak in 100 backstroke to 6". ESPN. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
4. "(Rio Games) Ryan Murphy takes 100m backstroke gold ahead of Xu Jiayu". Hong Kong: The Standard. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
5. Fenno, Nathan (8 August 2016). "Ryan Murphy of the U.S. wins gold in 100 backstroke". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
6. "Ryan Murphy Keeps American Streak Alive with 100 Backstroke Olympic Record". Swimming World Magazine. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
7. Barrett, Chris (8 August 2016). "Australian Mitch Larkin misses the medals in 100 metres backstroke in Rio". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
8. "Peirsol reclaims 100 back record". ESPN. 8 July 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
9. "Aaron Peirsol's stunning swim steals limelight from Michael Phelps". Guardian.co.uk. 9 July 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
10. "2012 London Olympics: Matt Grevers Sets Olympic Record in 100 Back Win; Nick Thoman Gives U.S. 1-2 Finish". Swimming World Magazine. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.