Kosuke Hagino won Japan’s first gold medal of the 2016 Rio Games on Saturday night, beating fast-finishing American Chase Kalisz and countryman Daiya Seto in the men’s 400-meter individual medley.
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Hagino, the bronze medalist in London in 2012, won with a time of four minutes 6.05 seconds to end a US stranglehold on the event dating back to 1996.
Hagino on Saturday clocked 4min 05.06sec, holding off American Chase Kalisz to wrest the title from USA hands, where it had rested for the past five Games.
In the equivalent women’s event, Katinka Hosszu, holder of 11 long and short-course world titles, is the clear favourite in her fourth Games to finally land her first Olympic title as, on 2016 form, the Hungarian is over three-and-a-half seconds faster than world No.2 Hannah Miley, of Great Britain.
The grueling event featuring all four strokes – butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle – was missing its two biggest stars.
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Lochte, the defending 2012 Olympic champion, missed out on qualifying for this event when he finished third in June’s U.S. Olympic Trials after injuring his groin.
