Reigning 200-back Olympic champion Ryan Murphy<\/strong> dropped a world top-ten time in his signature event Friday evening at the Santa Clara stop of the TYR Pro Swim Series, touching in 1:56.06 for first place over other big names Ryosuke Irie<\/strong> and Jacob Pebley<\/strong>. While his time was a few tenths off his season best, he described how he gauges his performance based mainly on practice times, and he has been satisfied with his practice times recently.<\/p>\n

Murphy has not had a full taper since July of last year for World Champs, and described how his taper has evolved moving from coach to coach. At the moment, he emphasized that his legs need more rest, but he is eager to improve with this season’s upcoming taper.<\/p>\n

He credits long-time teammate Ryan Lochte<\/strong> with racing motivation, as well as last year’s performance in driving him to improve this year. He emphasizes that defining his goals is an important step in giving 100% during the course of a meet.<\/p>\n