Kalisz Takes 400 IM Gold, But About Those Final Times

2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

The first swimming medal of these 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games was earned by American Chase Kalisz in the men’s 400m IM. The silver medalist from Rio clocked a time of 4:09.42 to lead teammate Jay Litherland and Aussie Brendon Smith who finished in the silver and bronze medal positions, respectively.

Yes, Kalisz won by nearly a second. However, the entire field was on the sluggish side, at least compared to historic data.

As we detailed in our post regarding Japan’s Daiya Seto missing out on the final, the prelims, which took place in the evening here in Tokyo were quick. At the 2016 Olympic Games, it took 4:13.55 to make it into the top 8. The following year at the 2017 FINA World Aquatic Championships it took just 4:15.69 and the 2019 FINA World Championships saw a time of 4:15.24 as the minimum to move on.

Here, it was a time of 4:10.20 that captured slot #8 for the final.

However, finals were a different story, with every one of the 8 men clocking slower times than in the prelims.

The 2012 Olympic Games saw the top 4 finishers all under 4:10, while 4 years later in Rio the top 3 men were sub-4:10. Compare that to today’s final and Kalisz, the winner, was the sole man under 4:10. The 400m IM final was the slowest it has been in an Olympic Games or World Championships since 2001.

1st place, gold medalist(s) 3 Chase Kalisz  United States 4:09.42
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7 Jay Litherland  United States 4:10.28
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 4 Brendon Smith  Australia 4:10.38
4 6 Dávid Verrasztó  Hungary 4:10.59
4 8 Max Litchfield  Great Britain 4:10.59
6 1 Léon Marchand  France 4:11.16
7 5 Lewis Clareburt  New Zealand 4:11.22
8 2 Alberto Razzetti  Italy 4:11.32

Seto’s time from the prelims, a 4:10.52 would have placed 4th in the final, for perspective. In 2016, Kosuke Hagino was 4:06.05, Kalisz was 4:06.75 and Seto was 4:09.71.

Is the lack of fans in the audience a factor? Or does the timing of having finals in the morning coming into play? Debate in the comments.

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TXSwimMom
3 years ago

In an age group meet, a slow prelim finish and world record B final finish would still only give you 9th place at best. Regardless of how (or when) you swim in finals, it really is the cumulative performance of prelims/semis/finals that gets you on that podium.

Diane Lesley-Neuman
3 years ago

Definitely believe it was the early morning schedule.

Bob B
3 years ago

At the end of the day, it is about racing and getting on the podium. Being an Olympic medal winner is what will stay with the athletes not the time they swam to get it.

Felixe Cote
3 years ago

Definitely finals in the morning and let’s not forget most of these guys didn’t train the past year. The 400IM is by far the hardest event

Kcf
3 years ago

Carson Foster is an important part of this discussion.

Fridorff
3 years ago

Simple.
Morning swim and pandemic.
Preparations have not been optimal for this olympics. On individual level the results will suffer more or less depending on what level of preparation they’re used to. But as a whole we shouldn’t expect the usual 4-year progression these games, leaving a bit more room for flukes:)

Cintiswim
3 years ago

And then there’s Foster who threw down 4:08.46 back in Austin🔥

Swim2
Reply to  Cintiswim
3 years ago

There’s a reason fosters at home and chase is out at the olympics with his individual 4im gold medal

JoelM
3 years ago

Who cares about the time! Get your hand on the wall first that’s all that matters at the Olympics. We have turned swimming into such a time focused sport we are forgetting the racing aspect of it!

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Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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