Editorial Coverage Sponsored By FINIS
By David Rieder
The men’s 100 back features two young backstrokers who have charged to the front of the world rankings over the past two years (the USA’s Ryan Murphy and Australia’s Mitch Larkin), a veteran returning after narrowly missing the Olympic podium four years ago (France’s Camille Lacourt), a 30-year-old making his Olympic debut (American David Plummer) and the Olympic bronze medalist from London (Japan’s Ryosuke Irie).
From such an impressive list of medal hopefuls, Larkin could have the edge after he was the world champion in both the 100 and 200 backstroke last year. But everyone will see him coming this time around, and he’ll have to deal with Murphy and Plummer, who both excelled at the U.S. Olympic Trials last month, knocking defending gold medalist Matt Grevers off of the Olympic team.
TALK ON DECK
- Can the Americans win a sixth straight Olympic gold medal in this event? Jeff Rouse (1996), Lenny Krayzelburg (2000), Aaron Peirsol (2004 and 2008) and Grevers (2012) have combined to win the previous five. The U.S. also has gone 1-2 in the event in 2008 (Peirsol and Grevers) and 2012 (Grevers and Nick Thoman).
- Will Lacourt fulfill his potential on the Olympic stage? Four years ago, he entered the London Games as the defending world champion and third-fastest swimmer in history, but he faded to fourth in the final.
- Can anyone touch Peirsol’s world record? Larkin, Plummer and Murphy have all come close to breaking 52 seconds over the past year, but 51.94 has eluded their reach. That could change in Rio.
PREDICTIONS
Gold: Ryan Murphy, USA
Silver: Mitch Larkin, Australia
Bronze: David Plummer, USA
Check out our previews for every swimming event at the Olympic Games by downloading our Rio Preview Issue.
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