PARIS, France — Seven-time Olympic medalist and Ponte Vedra native Ryan Murphy did not advance to the men's 200-meter backstroke final at the Paris Olympics Wednesday.
Despite a slow start, Murphy pushed to the head of the pack briefly before running out of gas, finishing sixth in his semifinal at 1:56.62; it was the 10th-best time overall but, he needed to finish in the top-8.
Wednesday morning, Murphy finished with the fifth-best time in the preliminary round with a time of 1:57.03, 0.41 seconds behind first place held by Roman Mityukov of Switzerland. The 16 fastest times from the heats where there were 29 swimmers (excluding one that was disqualified), qualified for the semifinals.
Joining Murphy in the semifinal round of the race was fellow American Keaton Jones who placed 11th with a time of 1:57.54 in the heats. Jones advanced to the final.
Murphy could have possibly made history if he advanced to the 200-meter backstroke final by becoming the first male swimmer to win medals in three consecutive Olympics in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke.
On Monday, he earned a bronze medal after finishing third in the men's 100-meter backstroke final. Following the race, Murphy presumably received an even greater reward when he looked up from the pool deck at his wife Bridget Konttinen in the stands. He saw Konttinen holding up a sign to let him know their first child due in January will be a girl.
"I was walking back around and Bridget was holding up a sign and it said — ‘Ryan, it’s a girl,’" he said. "That was the first time I heard the gender."
As someone who attended The Bolles School in Jacksonville and is a big fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Murphy pointed out that quarterback Trevor Lawrence and his wife also have a daughter on the way.
“I hope our daughters can be friends,” he said.