With Lochte out of the 400 IM, Phelps out of the 400 IM, and Clary seeming more interested in focusing on the 200 backstroke, Chase Kalisz has inherited the long-anticipated throne as the king of the American 400 IM. He showed off a little bit on Saturday with a 4:11.71 to win the men’s 400 IM A-Final.
He really man-handled the race with his performance, cruising through a competitive fly leg before overtaking a lead on the backstroke that he wouldn’t give back. This is the new Kalisz – he’s no longer just a back-half IM’er, he’s become incredibly good on his front-half too, turning his weaknesses into strengths, and he will give Japan’s Kosuke Hagino and Daiya Seto a whale of a battle for gold at Pan Pacs (though, those two have looked unbelievably-good this year as well; especially Seto, who was a 4:10.2 at the Japan Open on Thursday.
Kalisz, always looking for more like most great swimmers, was a tenth faster than that with which he won the U.S. National Championship last summer, but still said he had a faster number in his mind.
Below, Ous Mellouli looks almost as dominant relative to the B-Final, which he won in 4:19.13.
