On a disappointing night in the Olympic swimming pool for Australia, excellent performances elsewhere put paid to the gold medal hopes of Emily Seebohm and Mitch Larkin.
In the women’s 100m backstroke final, Seebohm was away strongly in the unfancied lane one, touching 0.05 of a second ahead of American Kathleen Baker but a powerful performance from the 400m individual medley winner and record-breaker Katinka Hosszu saw the Hungarian finish strongly to snatch gold, with Baker claiming silver.
Madison Wilson also started brightly but faded on the second lap with the Australian duo finishing seventh and eighth in a tight final.
In the men’s 100m Larkin had a disappointing start, with a slow reaction speed, but touched in first place at the 50m mark. USA’s David Plummer moved strongly off the turn, but it was his fast-finishing compatriot Ryan Murphy who powered home to grab gold ahead of China’s Jiayu Xu.
As Larkin faded, Plummer got the touch, edging the Australian by 0.03 for the bronze.
A disappointed Seebohm spoke to Australian media shortly after the race. “It was hard obviously from lane one,” Seebohm said. “I had no idea what the other girls were doing.
“That’s just how it is. I know I tried 100% and I couldn’t have done any more so I’m proud of myself.”
Larkin handled his disappointment in customary good-spirited fashion, with one eye ahead on his more preferred event, the 200m backstroke.
“I left everything in the pool. I tried to gain as much as I could in the second 50, but I’ll have to look at the splits,” he said.
Larkin will also be in contention again with the Australian men’s medley relay.
A former world record holder in the 50m, Seebohm had gone into the Olympics as the reigning 100m backstroke world champion but was unable to improve upon her silver medal placing at London.
Larkin too was the reigning world champion for the 100m backstroke, but is competing in his first Olympics.
