Editorial content for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is sponsored by FINIS, a longtime partner of Swimming World and leading innovator of suits, goggles and equipment. World Championships, Day 5 Prelims: Ryan Murphy Eases Into 200 Back Semis As the only presiding power in the men’s 200 backstroke, Ryan Murphy handled his prelims swim at the World Aquatics Championships with veteran poise Thursday morning. The American was third in the final heat of four, working his walls and bounding off the final turn to get in with the leading pack at Marine Messe Hall in Fukuoka, Japan. He qualified for semifinals, light task that that is, comfortably in fourth in 1:57.37. Murphy is bidding to repeat in the event to go with silvers in 2019 and 2017. Earlier in the week, he added the long-awaited 100 back title, his first World title in that event. Bradley Woodward set the pace, the Australia going 1:57.14. He led 11 times in the 1:57s, followed by Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov in second (1:57.24), Hubert Kos of Hungary (1:57.27) and Murphy. The field in the 200 back is paper-thin. The 100 back is becoming a sprinter’s domain; the silver medalist in the 100 (Thomas Ceccon of Italy) and bronze medalist (America’s Hunter Armstrong) aren’t in this event, nor is fourth-place Xu Jiayu of China or Yohan Ndoye-Brouard of France, who was fifth. That leaves only four finalists in the 100 back for this 200, led by Murphy. Luke Greenbank, the bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics and silver medalist in Budapest last year, did not qualify for Great Britain. And of course there’s the absence of the reigning Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov, with Russia suspended from international competition. It got even thinner with a scratch by Ksawery Masiuk; the Polish teen had been sixth in the 100 back. Kos won the first of three circle-seeded heats. He had two Brits in tow, with Oliver Morgan second in 1:57.62 and Brodie Williams third in 1:57.92. Those times are sixth and ninth overall, respectively. Canadian Hugh McNeill won the penultimate heat with a best time of 1:57.73 for seventh. It denied Hidekazu Takehara, who led the first 170-some meters before fading badly. He still slid into finals in 16th place in 1:58.64, with countryman Daiki Yanagawa overtaking him for 13th. Destin Lasco got through without drama, going 1:57.84 for eighth. Apostolos Siskos was fifth for Greece. Mewen Tomac, a finalist in 2022, struggled to 12th in 1:58.09.
