{"id":530965,"date":"2023-06-29T17:14:44","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T00:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=530965"},"modified":"2023-06-29T20:15:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T03:15:15","slug":"u-s-nationals-carson-foster-edges-chase-kalisz-for-mens-400-im-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-nationals-carson-foster-edges-chase-kalisz-for-mens-400-im-title\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Nationals: Carson Foster Edges Chase Kalisz For Men’s 400 IM Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Nationals: Carson Foster, Edges Chase Kalisz For Men’s 400 IM Title<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

What appeared to be a four-horse race for the men’s 400 IM turned out how most would expect.<\/p>\n

Carson Foster<\/strong> and Chase Kalisz<\/strong> battled for the title, trying to hold off the incredible closing speed of both Bobby Finke<\/strong> and Jay Litherland.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

For Foster, the key is the breaststroke leg, where he knows he has to be sharp.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

It was a stellar battle between four of the world’s best swimmers, one of the biggest four-way matchups of the week.<\/p>\n

Just like prelims, the quartet was well ahead of the rest of the field at U.S. Nationals.<\/p>\n

Aggie Swim Club’s Baylor Nelson<\/strong> finished fifth in 4:15.87, followed by Owen Lloyd<\/strong> (4:17.80), Danny Berlitz<\/strong> (4:18.11) and Sean Grieshop<\/strong> (4:19.84).<\/p>\n