This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia, which closed in 2021.

Back-To-Back Disappointment For Aussie Couple Emily Seebohm And Mitch Larkin

They missed out on medals, but they're still #relationshipgoals.
Missing out: Emily Seebohm finishes seventh.
AFP/Getty Images
Missing out: Emily Seebohm finishes seventh.

Australian backstroke champions Emily Seebohm and Mitchell Larkin have missed out on medals in their respective 100m finals at the Rio Games.

Seebohm and Larkin both led the field at the 50m turn, but faded in the back half of their races to finish seventh and fourth, respectively.

Hungarian Katinka Hosszu and American Ryan Murphy won the men's and women's finals. Australian Madison Wilson also competed in the women's 100m, finishing eighth.

Larkin was facing an absolute cracker of a field. When the 23-year-old Queenslander won this event at the most recent world championships in Kazan, Russia, in 2015, his margin was just 0.08 of a second ahead of the giant Frenchman Camille Lacourt.

The finish of the men's 100m backstroke. Larkin is out of the picture to the left.
Athit Perawongmetha / Reuters
The finish of the men's 100m backstroke. Larkin is out of the picture to the left.

This race was always going to be tight too, with less than a second separating the qualifying times of the entire final field of eight. Despite touching first, Larkin missed out on a bronze medal by just 0.03, while Lacourt also missed out on a medal.

Larkin was his usual calm, thoughtful self after the race.

"I think every athlete on the pool deck wants to stand on the top spot of the podium," he conceded.

"But my speed was good today. I've really been trying to push the top end a bit more, and now I can focus on the 200.

"You guys [the media] might be disappointed by that swim, but I'm not to be honest. It's faster than my heat and my semi, which is a good sign."

The earlier race was a disappointing result for Seebohm, who also went in as world champion. She had won silver at London 2012, and while she only qualified in lane one for the final, big things were expect. Alas, they did not happen. But like Larkin, she's still got the 200m to come later on in the meet.

Hungarian Katinka Hosszu won the women's 100m and she's Hungary for more.
AFP/Getty Images
Hungarian Katinka Hosszu won the women's 100m and she's Hungary for more.

As for Maddie Wilson, it's her first Olympics so she has no reason to feel disappointed. All the swimmers here in Rio will tell you that Wilson is the funniest girl on the team. But she's also a really good egg.

Regular readers of The Huffington Post Australia will recall that Wilson helps out regularly at the children's hospital in Brisbane, and that she spends so much time there, her coach Michael Bohl told her to ease off a little in recent months so she could concentrate on, oh you know, training for the Olympics and all that.

There'll be plenty of sick kids out there who still think she's a champ, and rightly so.

Oh, And for those wondering what Larkin did while his girlfirend's race was on (as per our story earlier today), the answer is he snuck a peek in the marshalling area.

"Yeah, I did sort of have a glance," he admitted.

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia. Certain site features have been disabled. If you have questions or concerns, please check our FAQ or contact support@huffpost.com.