From Team USA:
RIO DE JANEIRO — Training and racing with Michael Phelps helped Chase Kalisz get to his first Olympic Games.
But it was Kalisz alone who got himself to the Olympic podium.
The 22-year-old University of Georgia Bulldog moved into second place during the breaststroke in the men’s 400-meter individual medley and almost caught Kosuke Hagino of Japan.
Reigning world champion Daiya Seto of Japan finished third.
U.S. men have won the 400 IM for the past 20 years. Phelps won it twice (2004 and 2008), then swore after the London Olympic Games that he would never compete in the event again. Ryan Lochte won in 2012.
Kalisz started his day by swimming the fastest time in the world this year: 4:08.12.
Jay Litherland finished fifth in his first Olympic Games.
Kalisz was not the only U.S. athlete to win silver Saturday night.
He was joined by Maya DiRado, whose Olympic career is just beginning. And it’s just about to end.
But what a beginning. The 23-year-old Stanford graduate claimed a silver medal in the women’s 400-meter individual medley on the first night of 2016 Olympic swimming.
She came back from a slow start in the butterfly to move into second in the backstroke. Swimming ahead of world record pace, with winner Katinka Hosszu from Hungary, DiRado held second place through breaststroke — her least favorite of the four strokes — and cruised to the silver medal in the final freestyle leg.
Hosszu won in 4:26.36, shattering the world record by over two seconds. DiRado fell off world record pace but didn’t care. She was thrilled with a silver medal (finishing in 4:31.15). Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain took bronze in 4:32.39, while three-time U.S. Olympian Elizabeth Beisel was sixth (4:34.98).
Although this is her only Olympic Games, DiRado skipped the Opening Ceremony last night. And she will miss the Closing Ceremony too, choosing instead to vacation with her husband in Paris. Then on Sept. 9, she enters the workforce as a business analyst for McKinsey & Company in Atlanta.
Congratulations to this young man who has represented himself, his country, and his home town in outstanding fashion.
I second Mike Welsh’s comment!
Congratulations to Chase. I was hoping to read a little about him in the article however, there was no background information. Did he grow up in Bel Air? Where did he go to high school? Does anybody know the Kalisz family? Do they still live in Bel Air? Just wondering…
He went to High School at Fallston HS, graduated in 2012. His folks still live in Bel Air.
I’m a teacher, and he was in my class his freshman year at Fallston. He has siblings who swim as well–super nice family. Chase was always quiet and very humble about his swimming. Soooo proud of him!