Miami Valley Olympian advances to finals at Tokyo Olympics

TOKYO — Darke County native, Clayton Murphy, has qualified for the final round in the men’s 800-meter event after finishing second in the race during the semifinals.

Murphy’s first semi-finals race began at 7:25 a.m. Sunday morning.

He finished with a time of 1:44:18.

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News Center 7 spoke with Murphy in April. He said that when the pandemic delayed the 2020 games a year, he used the time to practice and focus on different things in his training.

“I think it really made me better as an athlete going into this year, and that was my build up toward the qualifier,” Murphy said.

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A two-time Olympian, Murphy competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics where he won bronze for the United States.

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