Brisbane’s Mitch Larkin narrowly misses a medal in the 100m backstroke final in Rio

BRISBANE swimmer Mitch Larkin has narrowly missed out on a medal in the 100m men’s backstroke final.

Mitch Larkin narrowly missed a medal in the 100m men’s backstroke final. Picture: CHRIS HYDE/GETTY IMAGES

BRISBANE’S Mitch Larkin has missed out on a medal in the men’s 100m backstroke final at the Rio Olympics by just 300th of a second.

The 23-year-old Wishart resident led at the turn but was swamped by his competitors in the second 50m as US swimmer Ryan Murphy powered home to take gold with an Olympic record time of 51.97.

China’s Xu Jiayu (52.31) touched in second while Murphy’s compatriot David Plummer (52.40) pipped Larkin (52.43) at the finish to claim bronze.

“It was a little bit disappointing but I’ve got the 200m later in the week and I’ll see what happens,” the St Peter’s Western Swim Club member and former John Paul College student told a reporter for Channel 7’s Olympic coverage after the race.

“(The second 50m) is my strength so I tried to gain as much as I could in the second 50m but I’ll have to see the splits and see what happened.

“I’m happy, I left everything on the floor and I really couldn’t have done much different.

“As world champion everyone sort of expects you to continue that but the 100m comes down to nothing really, so it’s a bit of luck ... for me the 200m is my favourite and that’s later in the week so we’ll see what happens there.”