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Australia continued its strong meet at the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Tokyo with a 1-2 finish in one of its best events historically. Jack McLoughlin took the race out hard in the final and was able to successfully hold off the 2016 Olympic Champion Mack Horton.
McLoughlin won the 400 free final with a 3:44.20, holding off a charging Horton at 3:44.31. McLoughlin is now second in the world this year with that swim, sitting only behind Horton with his time from the Commonwealth Games in April.
Australia has a rich history in the men’s 400 free with guys like Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett and Kieren Perkins dominating this event in past years. Despite their historical dominance, this is Australia’s first gold medal in this event at the Pan Pacs since 2002 when Thorpe won it. South Korea’s Park Tae Hwan has won the last three titles in this event.
American Zane Grothe finished with the bronze medal at 3:45.37, his second medal of the meet. Grothe was slightly off his best time of 3:44.44 from last summer’s Nationals.
The other American in the final was Grant Shoults, who finished in fourth place at 3:48.27. Grothe and Shoults will represent the United States in Gwangju next summer in that event. Shoults held off a good challenge from veteran Conor Dwyer, who won the B-Final at 3:48.45.
Japan’s Naito Ehara (3:48.80), Brazil’s Fernando Scheffer (3:50.55), Cook Islands’ Wesley Roberts (3:54.73) and Japan’s Shogo Takeda (3:55.30) also competed in the championship final.
2018 World Rankings:
- Mack Horton, AUS, 3:43.76
- Jack McLoughlin, AUS, 3:44.20
- Sun Yang, CHN, 3:44.29
- Mykhailo Romanchuk, UKR, 3:45.18
- James Guy, GBR, 3:45.32
- Zane Grothe, USA, 3:45.32
- Aleksandr Krasnykh, RUS, 3:45.84
- Elijah Winnington, AUS, 3:45.98
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