Chase Kalisz Battles Ryan Lochte for 400 IM Top Seed Tonight

Photo Courtesy: Brenton Tse

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This morning at Olympic Trials there was a battle for the top seed in the men’s 400 IM.

After speculation about if Ryan Lochte would even include the event in his lineup, the defending Olympic gold medalist led the first of two circle seeded heats through the first 200 meters.

North Baltimore’s Chase Kalisz entered with the fourth best time in the world this year of 4:11.51. He outsplit Lochte on the breaststroke leg and the two battled through freestyle. Kalisz got to the wall first in 4:11.86. Lochte posted a 4:11.98 for the second fastest time of the morning.

Jay Litherland used a strong breaststroke leg to touch in 4:12.57. That time move him to eighth overall in the world rankings this year, and made him tonight’s third seed.

Gunnar Bentz posted a 4:13.68 for fourth overall, followed by Sean Grieshop of Nitro in fifth with a 4:14.00. The 17 year old swam a new Junior World Record. The old mark stood at 4:14.07, swum by Brandonn Almeida in December.

Josh Prenot, the NCAA Champion from Cal, also charged through the breaststroke leg and stopped the clock in 4:14.19, good for sixth.

Michael Weiss will be tonight’s seventh seed after posting a 4:15.21.

Veteran Tyler Clary of SwimMAC dominated the backstroke leg in heat five but fell to fourth in his heat. He returns tonight as the eighth seed in 4:15.41.

Photo Courtesy: Omega Timing

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