U.S. Nationals: Carson Foster, Edges Chase Kalisz For Men’s 400 IM Title
What appeared to be a four-horse race for the men’s 400 IM turned out how most would expect.
Carson Foster and Chase Kalisz battled for the title, trying to hold off the incredible closing speed of both Bobby Finke and Jay Litherland.
The result was a thrilling race that saw Foster get to the wall in 4:08.14 to win gold, just ahead of Kalisz, who was just eight hundredths of a second behind in 4:08.22.
“It was good. I would have loved to see a 4:06 today, but that is not always part of the plan. I am excited to have four more weeks and we are going to see what we can do. I think there are a couple more seconds out there,” Foster said. “The U.S. is the best in the world depth-wise in the 400 IM, so it is never going to be easy to make a team. We are too deep. I knew it was going to be a great race. It is about not letting anyone touch the wall first.”
Finke made a huge move during the freestyle leg to make it interesting, but just didn’t have enough meters to make the comeback and finished third in 4:09.55.
If not for Finke, Litherland’s closing would have looked even more impressive. He didn’t concede the race and got to the wall in 4:10.74 to finish fourth.
For Foster, the key is the breaststroke leg, where he knows he has to be sharp.
“Breaststroke is something I am getting more comfortable with. Pretty much everyone I swim in the 400 IM has a good breaststroke. I am still working to get better at it, and I am getting better,” Foster said. “It is too easy to look around at everyone, so I tried to stay in my own lane.”
It was a stellar battle between four of the world’s best swimmers, one of the biggest four-way matchups of the week.
Just like prelims, the quartet was well ahead of the rest of the field at U.S. Nationals.
Aggie Swim Club’s Baylor Nelson finished fifth in 4:15.87, followed by Owen Lloyd (4:17.80), Danny Berlitz (4:18.11) and Sean Grieshop (4:19.84).
