NANTERRE, France — American swimmers added plenty to the U.S. medal count Monday night, just not the ones they most wanted.
Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant stood side by side on the Paris podium. Ryan Murphy picked up the seventh medal of his illustrious career. And Luke Hobson earned his first in a stirring race.
But none of them were gold.
In a way, it felt like a changing of the guard, especially when Murphy could only manage a bronze and longtime breaststroke stalwart Lilly King was edged out of a medal by a mere hundredth of a second.
“We have a lot of people who have been doing this for a long time, the absolute legends of the sport,” Murphy said. “All the young people that are winning would say they look up to them.”
Grimes and Weyant could celebrate knowing nobody was going to catch 17-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh in her dominant 400-meter individual medley victory.
“Just so happy to be back on the podium, it’s been kind of a long three years for me,” Weyant said. “So just getting back up there with a teammate means the world.”
McIntosh touched in 4 minutes, 27.71 seconds to capture Olympic gold in commanding fashion. Grimes finished second in 4:33.40 for silver and Weyant earned bronze with a 4:33.93.
For Weyant, this was a comeback of sorts on the biggest stage. She was disqualified in the prelims at the U.S. national championships last summer for doing a dolphin kick during the breaststroke leg.
“This is kind of like a redemption year, that’s been my mindset the whole year,” Weyant said. “Getting that out of my head definitely was not at the forefront but definitely putting in the work to get back to where I need to be.”
Murphy and Hobson each take home bronze medals
Former world record-holder Murphy won his bronze in the 100 backstroke, while Hobson earned one of his own in the 200 freestyle.
“I feel great. I couldn’t be happier,” said Hobson, a University of Texas swimmer competing in his first Olympics. “It was a really close race and I gave it everything I had in the last 50 meters.”
Murphy, who owns the Olympic record of 51.85 in the 100 back set in Rio de Janeiro eight years ago, touched in 52.39 in a thrilling duel among the medalists. World record-holder Thomas Ceccon of Italy won gold in 52.00, ahead of China’s Xu Jiayu (52.32).
For Murphy, any sting from finishing third was eased during the medal ceremony when he looked up to see his wife Bridget holding a sign that read, “It’s a girl, “ revealing the gender of the couple’s baby due in January.
Lilly King barely misses out on bronze medal
Lilly King just missed the podium in 100 breaststroke in yet another close finish at these Games.
Only one-hundredth of a second separated bronze medalist Mona McSharry of Ireland — she earned her country’s first medal in Paris and first in swimming since 1996 — and the fourth-place tie between King and Italy’s Benedetta Pilato in 1:05.60.
South Africa’s Tatjana Smith claimed the gold.
King has been one of the biggest U.S. stars at the last two Olympics, claiming two golds and five medals overall, and she’s nearly as well known for her outspoken views on swimmers who test positive for banned substances.
After getting engaged at the U.S. trials, she already announced this will be her final Olympics.
