Ryan Murphy will be leading things off for the United States in the men’s 4x100m medley relay replacing defending Olympic 100m backstroke champion Matt Grevers.
Murphy led off a mixed relay this week with a 52.18, a time which currently ranks him first in the world this year in the individual 100 back.
He’ll need to be on his ‘A’ game as Camille Lacourt of France will be swimming the backstroke leg for his team after winning the 50m backstroke earlier in the session. With them will be 100m backstroke world champion Mitch Larkin of Australia.
Although the rosters for the Americans, French, and Australians are fairly expected, the British are going in with a somewhat unexpected roster.
Leading off with Christopher Walker-Hebborn, he’ll be followed by 100m breaststroke world record Adam Peaty. The shock on the roster comes on the fly leg where 200m freestyle world champion James Guy will be looking to keep what will likely be the lead for Great Britain. Throw Ben Proud in and they have a very solid group of men.
USA ROSTER
- Murphy
- Cordes
- Shields
- Adrian
FRENCH ROSTER
- Lacourt
- Perez-Dortona
- Metella
- Gilot
AUSTRALIAN ROSTER
- Larkin
- Packard
- Hadler
- McEvoy
BRITISH ROSTER
- Walker-Hebborn
- Peaty
- Guy
- Proud
To see a PDF with all the men’s rosters, click here.
As for the women’s lineups there aren’t really any unexpected orders for any team. One big difference is that Bronte Campbell will be swimming in place of her sister, Cate Campbell, as the freestyle anchor for team Australia. Bronte Campbell won the individual 100 free over her sister earlier in the meet, which is reason enough to give her the relay spot.
The Canadians are also playing around with their sprint freestylers. Instead of going with Chantal Van Landeghem on the anchor leg, they’re going with Sandrine Mainville. Mainville swam on the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay that earned bronze for Canada earlier in the meet.
USA ROSTER
- Franklin
- Hardy
- Stewart
- Manuel
AUSTRALIAN ROSTER
- Seebohm
- McKeown
- McKeon
- Bronte Campbell
BRITISH ROSTER
- Quigley
- O’Connor
- Kelly
- Halsall
To see a full PDF listing all rosters, click here.
Grevers has been screwed over twice now by the men’s team head coach with Troy/Lochte in London and now Durden/Murphy.
Often times coaches earn incentive money in their contracts based on their swimmers performances. So when you have a head team’s coach deciding between what’s best for team and their pocket, there’s a clear conflict of interest. Perhaps the head coach ought to recluse themselves in these cases.
I mentioned this somewhere else, I think this was a bad move. (Not that it actually matters what I think but this is a discussion board.) I understand Cordes for the breaststrokers who qualified for the meet.
That being said, Grevers qualified for the event and medaled. Plus he got a silver medal in the 50 back. Murphy swam amazing in prelims of the mixed medley relay, so-so in finals. He swam well in the 200 back but not world beating. I think there should be a clear, overwhelming reason to replace a medalist on the relay. And this is now with the advantage of hindsight but I had made this comment on another thread before the relay. Grevers… Read more »
Gotta imagine Grevers at least had his opinion heard on this relay, he’s a leader on this team and has been for many years now. Either way, the fact remains that Ryan Murphy’s 52.1 is the fastest 100m backstroke we’ve seen this week. I like the call, Lets go Murph
After it was all said and done Grevers had a couple 53 lows/52 highs and Murphy had a 52 low and a few 53 lows.
My point is that it’s probably a toss up. Murphy went 53.05 tonight which and Grevers a 52.85 in the monrning. As PASWIM stated I’m sure Grevers weighed in and probably made the call. After all he did have the 50m back as well.
Yep. I’m sure Grevers said, “take this rookie who seems to choke in finals and let’s gamble on him. Oh and take medal money out of my pocket in the process. I’m just a professional swimmer. We get so much money I could care less.”
Have you ever listened to or watched Grevers around his teammates? He is one of the most gracious and humble swimmers. Watching him when Cordes dq’d the relay a few years ago really showed me his character. I would not be surprised at all if he did in fact elect for Murphy to swim the relay.
So Ryan Murphy went faster in prelims – but significantly slower in finals of the mixed medley. Wouldn’t it make more sense to give the relay to the person who has performed consistently? Murphy went a 52.1 in prelims and a 53.3 in finals. So what is USA going to get in the medley relay? Grevers was a 53.2 in prelims, a 52.7 in semis and a 52.6 in finals. Let’s hope Murphy swims well –
Seems like the the preference whether you get to swim or not this meet in relays if you trained in Berkeley.
Seems like whether you are the best American in your event or not depends on whether you trained in Berkeley, or not.
If you took Cal athletes off the U.S. Roster, they’d beat the rest of the U.S. In medal count. Yeah. Forget all the internationals like Dugonjic and Osman etc., and add a few who didn’t make the team last summer….
Adrian, Murphy, Shields, Ervin, Katis, Prenot, Pebley, Lynch, Stubblefield, Copeland, etc.
Coughlin, Franklin, Leverenz, Hardy, Kennedy, Pelton, Bootsma, Runge, etc.
get ready to add Baker, Weitzeil, Bilquist, Seliskar, and more.
400m relays from those two groups would beat those made up of all the rest of the U.S. Swimmers, from all teams, or come very close. … Read more »
As I previously said, Murphy will be a gamble but I think it’s a necessary gamble. Still, I would hate to be the coach to decide to take the Olympic champ off the relay.
It is nice to see a men’s relay with such young names. Even if they don’t blow us away, better to give experience to people who need it.
Wow this relay is interesting, who’s in front during the backstroke is a toss up, Peaty will destroy everyone in backstroke, with Cordes trying to hold on, butterfly will be a fight between Shields and Metella, and freestyle will likely be Adrian making up for his disappointment in the 100 free.
I meant peaty in Breaststroke.