Picture perfect: Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Murphy end with gold in relay

Clay High and Bolles grad dominant on 4x100 medley relay team

USA's Ryan Murphy (L) and Caeleb Dressel celebrate winning the final of the men's 4x100m medley relay during the Tokyo Olympics. (Getty Images)

Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Murphy sewed up swimming in the Olympics with a bang.

The former area stars and teammates on the Bolles Sharks club team closed out the swimming in Tokyo by leading the US to gold in world record fashion in the 4x100 medley relay, part of a world record 3:26.78 time that led to another gold.

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It was Dressel’s fifth gold of the Games. For Murphy, it was his third.

Murphy led off in the backstroke with a 52.31 and Dressel, swimming the fly leg of the relay, had a 49.03 and brought the US back from third to in the lead. Zach Apple polished it off in 46.95 and the Americans had a world record and a win by 0.73 over Great Britain.

It capped a double gold medal night for Dressel and a spectacular Olympics for the Clay High graduate.

One night after setting a world record in the 100 fly, Dressel added another gold medal to his growing resume. He won the 50-meter free for his fourth gold medal of the Olympics, setting an Olympic record in the process with a time of 21.07 seconds.

Dressel won his first gold on Sunday night swimming the lead leg of the 4x100 freestyle relay team and won the 100 freestyle on Wednesday night. Dressel set a world record in the 100 fly on Friday. The lone blemish came in the 4x100 mixed medley relay, although he wasn’t at fault for that.

Lydia Jacoby and Torri Huske struggled in the second and third legs of the event. Dressel’s final leg in the freestyle portion brought the Americans back from eighth to fifth, but out of medal contention.

Dressel had two gold medals from the 2016 Olympics in Rio, both in relay events. Murphy won the silver medal in the 200 back and bronze in the 100 back.


About the Author

Justin Barney joined News4Jax in February 2019, but he’s been covering sports on the First Coast for more than 20 years.

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