Ryan Murphy Blasts #3 50 Back of All-Time For New American Record – 22.53

2021 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE – SEASON 3, MATCH 16 – PLAYOFFS MATCH 5

• Thursday, November 25th – Friday, November 26th
• 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm local time; 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST
• Pieter van den Hoogenband Zwemstadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands
• Short Course Meters (25m – SCM) Format
• ISL Season 3 Schedules, Start Times, & More
• Live Results
• Teams Competing: Energy Standard, London Roar, LA Current, DC Trident
• Day 1 Start Lists

Four-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Murphy dropped the third-fastest SCM 50 backstroke time in history during the ISL’s fifth playoff match in Eindhoven on Thursday, clocking 22.53 to inch out his own American and ISL Record.

Murphy used an explosive start and dynamic underwaters to dominate the talent-stacked field, breaking his previous national and league records of 22.54 set during the ISL Season 2 Final in Budapest.

The LA Current swimmer’s performance stacks up as the third-fastest ever, trailing  Florent Manaudou‘s world record of 22.22 set back at the 2014 Short Course World Championships in Doha and Kliment Kolesnikov‘s 22.47 from the European SC Championships earlier this month.

All-Time Performances, Men’s 50 Backstroke (SCM)

1. Florent Manaudou (FRA), 22.22 – 2014
2. Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 22.47 – 2021
3. Ryan Murphy (USA), 22.53 – 2021
4. Ryan Murphy (USA), 22.54 – 2020
5. Guilherme Guido (BRA), 22.55 – 2019
6. Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 22.57 – 2021
7. Evgeny Rylov (RUS) / Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) 22.58 – 2018 / 2021
8. –
9. Guilherme Guido (BRA) / Guilherme Guido (BRA), 22.60 – 2021 / 2021

Murphy didn’t compete at all during the ISL regular season this year, joining the Current for the first time during the first match of the Season 3 playoffs two weeks ago.

Despite the time off, the 26-year-old has been on fire since he entered the fold, winning the 50 back in all three of his appearances while also adding two wins apiece in the 100 and 200 back (with the 100 still to come here in Match 5 on Friday).

Murphy’s previous-fastest swim this season came at 22.63 in his win from last weekend.

Prior to Murphy’s swim on Thursday, the fastest time done in the ISL this season came from London’s Guilherme Guido, who clocked 22.60 in both Match 3 and Match 6.

Guido was in the field in Match 5, but fell to fourth, with DC Trident’s Mark Nikolaev putting up a time of 22.70 for second, while Energy Standard’s Kolesnikov took third in 23.04.

Prior to his record-breaking swim last year, Murphy was the official American Record holder with his time of 22.63 from the 2018 SC World Championships, despite the fact that Peter Marshall had gone 22.61 in 2009. That swim from Marshall was not recognized as the official American Record because it was done in November of ’09, during the period in which USA Swimming stopped recognizing national records due to the super-suits.