2018 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, August 9 – Tuesday, August 14, 2018
- Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo, Japan
- Meet site
- Psych Sheet
- Start Lists
- Meet Results
After setting a new Pan Pacific Championship meet record in the prelims in a time of 1:54.07, his third-fastest swim ever, Ryan Murphy took that out once again in the final of the men’s 200 back with a new personal best time.
Murphy dominated the final in a time of 1:53.57, taking out his previous best time of 1:53.62 from the 2016 Olympic Games and his prelim meet record. Prior to him breaking the mark in the heats, the Championship Record belonged to Ryan Lochte with his 1:54.12 from 2010. Murphy maintains his spot at 7th all-time in the event, and 5th all-time among Americans. The swim also gave him the 11th fastest performance in history. He remains in 2nd in the world rankings this year with Russian Evgeny Rylov (1:53.36) holding down 1st.
The U.S. remains undefeated in this event at the Pan Pacific Championships since the first competition in 1985.
Below, check out a split comparison of Lochte’s old record and Murphy’s two records in the heats and final:
| Lochte, 2010 Pan Pacs | Murphy, 2018 Pan Pacs (Heats) | Murphy, 2018 Pan Pacs (Final) |
| 27.26 | 26.84 | 26.42 |
| 55.76 (28.50) | 56.16 (29.32) | 54.87 (28.45) |
| 1:24.69 (28.93) | 1:25.46 (29.30) | 1:23.76 (28.89) |
| 1:54.12 (29.43) | 1:54.07 (28.61) | 1:53.57 (29.81) |
Lochte’s 2010 swim and Murphy’s swim in the final were split very similarly, with the main difference Murphy’s early speed on the opening 50. In the prelims, Murphy cruised through the middle 100 a little more than in the final and thus managed to close 1.2 seconds better on the final length.
Compared to his best time from Rio, Murphy was much quicker on the opening 50 here and much slower on the last 50 to bring the times within .05 of each other.
His Rio splits:
- 27.10
- 55.56 (28.46)
- 1:24.53 (28.97)
- 1:53.62 (29.09)
Go Golden Bear Ryan Murphy! [Hums “Sons of California.”]
Class act, truly grown into the role he was always destined for as a youngster, great performances at pan pacs.
Nice to see as so many high schoolers have huge expectations on them then ultimately disappoint even though achieve great things.
David Nolan, Jack Conger, Andrew Seliskar come to mind.
Incredible athletes but people always expecting more.
RYLOV @ European Championships: 1:53:36
Big difference though is Rylov only had to swim the event once on day of the final. Pan Pac schedule is condensed. Murphy would have been faster had he only swam the event once on-day of its final.
Rylov is going to get waxed by Murphy next year.
Also, Murphy had to save his legs for the relay later in the evening.
I don’t like the ‘would have been faster’ statement. I can also say Rylov would have been faster if there were rivals pushing him. The silver medalist at the Euros was 3 seconds slower than Rylov so he just won it easily.
Murphy has never been faster than 1:53.36 in his career. I will believe he is faster only when I actually see it.