Olympic Swimming 2016: Men's 100M Backstroke Medal Winners, Times and Results

A strong effort in the final 50 meters propelled Ryan Murphy to a gold medal in the men's 100-meter backstroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.

The 21-year-old American set an Olympic record, finishing in 51.97 seconds:

Pos.	Swimmer	Country	Time (Seconds)
1	Ryan Murphy	United States	51.97
2	Xu Jiayu	China	52.31
3	David Plummer	United States	52.40
4	Mitch Larkin	Australia	52.43
5	Camille Lacourt	France	52.70
6	Evgeny Rylov	Russia	52.74
7	Ryosuke Irie	Japan	53.42
8	Robert Glinta	Romania	53.50

NFL Network's Michael Silver was proud to see a fellow University of California, Berkeley Bear represent the school on the big stage:

Murphy got off to a strong start, but he and the rest of the field were chasing Australia's Mitchell Larkin through the first 50 meters as Larkin made the turn in first place. Larkin began slowing down quickly thereafter, though, which opened the door for Murphy.

Little separated the top four swimmers until the final 25 meters. Murphy turned on the jets and edged out ahead of China's Xu Jiayu. The 0.34-second gap between the top two finishers was a testament to Murphy's incredible closing speed. He turned what had been a tight race into a relatively comfortable win.

Larkin, meanwhile, slipped to fourth place and finished 0.03 seconds behind American David Plummer. Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde was surprised to see the Australians shut out in both the men's and women's backstroke events:

Plummer is one of the most inspiring stories in this year's swimming events. At 30 years old, he's competing in his first Olympic Games. Paul Carr of ESPN Stats & Info put Plummer's bronze medal into perspective:

The United States has dominated in the pool in Rio. Murphy's gold medal makes it four by American swimmers so far, including the men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay on Sunday. The U.S. has collected 14 swimming medals, well ahead of second-place China, which has earned four medals in the pool.

Post-Race Reaction

Murphy is the sixth straight American to win gold in the men's 100-meter backstroke.

"It's everything. Earlier on in this trip we got a stack of letters from backstrokers that have won here in the past," he said after the race, per CBSSports.com's Matt Norlander. "It meant everything to me and I'm sure it meant everything to David as well. Following the path they set up for us, it's really cool."

Plummer was content with his bronze medal: "I would have loved to have been a little faster, but to be up there on the podium at the Olympics is a dream come true."