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In one of the most hyped races of the meet, the last three major 400 IM winners met in the pool in Tokyo on Thursday night at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. 2015 World Champion Daiya Seto, 2016 Olympic gold medalist Kosuke Hagino and 2017 World Champion Chase Kalisz were all looking to win the gold medal in the 400 IM to open up the Pan Pacs in Tokyo.
The Japanese crowd was really pulling for Seto and Hagino, who took it out hard thanks to the energy of the crowd, but could not compete with Kalisz’s incredible 1:08 breaststroke leg.
Kalisz swam a 4:07.95 to take the gold medal and the world’s number one time. Kalisz pulled away from the two Japanese swimmers as Hagino took silver in 4:11.13 while Seto faded badly for bronze at 4:12.60, almost getting caught by American Jay Litherland (4:12.87).
Seto and Hagino really took advantage of the crowd excitement, turning in first at the 200, but really seemed to hurt over the second 200, as Kalisz really showed himself on the last 200.
All three have been faster in their careers, and both Japanese swimmers have been faster this year. Even the other American Litherland has been faster this year. It was an exciting race, but it was not quite as quick as a lot of people probably expected.
New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt (4:14.27), Brazil’s Brandonn Almeida (4:14.53), Leonardo Santos (4:18.90) and Canada’s Tristan Cote (4:21.72) also competed in the final.
2018 World Rankings:
- Chase Kalisz, USA, 4:07.95
- Daiya Seto, JPN, 4:08.98
- Jay Litherland, USA, 4:10.21
- Kosuke Hagino, JPN, 4:10.69
- David Verraszto, HUN, 4:11.98
- Sean Grieshop, USA, 4:12.72
- Clyde Lewis, AUS, 4:13.12
- Sam Stewart, USA, 4:13.65
Photo Courtesy:
Ross Mathieson Craig Mathieson
????go USA!!!!
Go USA!!!????