FUKUOKA, Japan – The 2023 World Aquatic Championships ended with a bang for California swimming, as the American trio of Ryan Murphy, Dare Rose and Jack Alexy led Team USA to the gold medal and a championship record in the 4x100-meter medley relay on Sunday.
 
Hunter Armstrong, a member of the Cal pro group, also won gold in the 50 backstroke on the final day of competition.
 
Murphy opened the relay with a terrific 52.04-second split in the backstroke – faster than his gold-medal time of 52.22 earlier in the week – to put the United States in front.  Following a breaststroke leg of 58.03 from Nick Fink, it was a Golden Bear affair as Rose capped his breakout meet with a butterfly split of 50.13 and Alexy brought home the gold with a freestyle leg of 47.00.
 
The U.S. quartet finished with a time of 3:27.20, breaking the previous mark of 3:27.28 set in 2009 during the "supersuit" era.
 
The 4x100 medley relay gold was Murphy's fourth medal of the 2023 competition and the 17th of his World Championships career; he captured gold in the 100 back, silver in the 200 back and bronze in the 4x100 mixed medley relay earlier this week. Rose finished his first World Championships with three medals, as he also earned bronze in the 4x100 mixed medley by swimming in the heats, and an individual bronze in the 100 fly. Alexy, also making his international debut, won five medals this week; silver in the 50 free, 100 free and mixed 4x100 free relay, as well as a bronze in the 4x100 free relay.
 
Armstrong took home Cal's final individual gold of the meet, out touching U.S. teammate Justin Ress by .19 tenths of a second. Armstrong finished with a time of 24:05 – .01 hundredths behind the championship record of 24:04 set by Liam Tancock in 2009.
 
Cal athletes accounted for 16 of the Team USA's 44 medals, which was the most among all countries in the 2023 World Championships.
 
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