Video produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Jared Anderson.
400 IM – FINALS
- NCAA – 3:34.50 – Chase Kalisz, Georgia – 2014
- Championship – 3:34.50 – Chase Kalisz, Georiga – 2014
- American – 3:34.50 – Chase Kalisz – 2014
- US Open – 3:34.50 – Chase Kalisz – 2014
- 2014 Champion – Chase Kalisz, Georgia – 3:34.50
Individual races kicked off with an entertaining back-and-forth in the 400 IM. Cal’s Adam Hinshaw had the early guts, leading the field through butterfly and the first half of backstroke. But in the middle of the pool, top-seeded Chase Kalisz and Will Liconstarted to track him down, officially taking the lead at the 200.
It was Kalisz ahead at that point, but Licon started to press his advantage over the breaststroke. Licon’s stroke is smooth compared to Kalisz’s bulldozing style, and you could see the Longhorn’s cool efficiency really start to pay off over the final 200 yards. He’d built a lead of .7 seconds heading into freestyle, and noticeably powered away from the reigning American record-holder early in the freestyle.
That gave Licon the national title in 3:36.37, the fourth-fastest time in history. He had the field’s best breaststroke split, astoundingly getting under a minute on that leg with a 59.80.
Kalisz could only watch as Licon took the title. He came in second in 3:39.51 – that’s well off his American record, and perhaps suggesting he’s focused a little more on this summer’s long course world championships. Kalisz did put up the fastest backstroke split of the field at 55.16.
His Georgia Bulldog teammate Gunnar Bentz was actually running him down late, and rolled into a 3rd-place finish in 3:39.87. His final 100 split of 49.68 was the best in the field on freestyle.
Cal’s Josh Prenot went 3:41.42 for fourth, getting in just a tick ahead of Michigan’s South African import Dylan Bosch (3:41.50).
A pair of Florida Gators took 6th and 7th, with Dan Wallace going 3:42.15 and Mark Szaranek 3:42.88. After pushing the pace early, Cal’s Hinshaw fell all the way off to 8th, finishing in 3:42.88.
Tennessee freshman Sam McHugh won the B final in 3:41.29. Another freshman in that heat, Stanford’s Curtis Ogren, fell victim to somewhat of a unique DQ – he was called for not separating his hands before dolphin kicking on the breaststroke pullout. That rule has been changed by FINA, but the NCAA won’t adopt a new rule midway through a season. The new rule, allowing the type of pullout Ogren was called for, will take effect after this season wraps up, meaning Ogren was essentially DQ’d at the very last meet that rule will be in effect.
New theory…Eddie Reese is Jesus
He is walking on water this weekend, for sure, and there will be shrines built to him on the Texas Swim Center when he retires, so you’ve got a good point.
You couldn’t predict that Chase Kalisz would be out of shape this week. After the bad 200 IM from Kalisz, we knew that Will Licon would easily win the 400 IM.
Other than that Eddie Reese is a machine! He has all numbers in mind! Very funny and very interesting to hear him. And he speaks pretty slowly so I can understand everything he says, which is not very often the case with some Americans who speak very quickly. 🙂
Bobo! You’re too funny (Americans speak too fast sometimes!).
Kalisz swam the best he could this time, but Licon beat him and that’s what this interview is about. Honestly I think a lot of us expected much less from Kalisz given his 2 IM, but Licon is the story here, fantastic swim by him.
Bobo, It’s true that many people speak English very quickly, but FRENCH speakers skip over pronouncing half the letters and some of the words entirely!!! 😉