Ask just about any long-time swimmer what event they’d absolutely dread racing, and it’s a good bet that many — if not, most — would point to the 400-meter individual medley in this hypothetical scenario.
The 400 IM is a wholly brutal event that conjures up feelings of agony, soreness and impossibility with 100 meters each of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. So, obviously, to succeed in the event, swimmers’ versatility is crucial — but so is endurance and the strategy of knowing when and how to use your energy and muscle groups.
“The 400 IM is such a unique event because, I think personally, it is more strategic than any other event,” said Chase Kalisz, Team USA’s silver medalist in the 400 IM from the 2016 Rio Olympics. He also qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in both the 400 and 200-meter IMs — and the latter is 50 meters of each stroke.
“I think it’s a race that needs more planning than any other event. It needs [more] specialized training than any other event.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5JKkKTeM0c
Prior to retiring from swimming after the 2016 Rio Games, Michael Phelps dominated the 400 IM for years, winning Olympic gold in 2004 and 2008. And it’s his last-standing individual world record with a time of 4:03.84, which he set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics on his way to winning a record-breaking eight gold medals.
Kalisz qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in June by winning the 400 IM with a time of 4:09.09 — the second-fastest time in the world this year in that event behind Japan’s Daiya Seto, who went 4:09.02 in April.
For 27-year-old Kalisz — a Maryland native who swam for Georgia in college who still trains with Bulldogs coach Jack Bauerle, along with Bob Bowman, who famously coached Phelps — that preparation involves focusing on the 400 IM in practice regardless of what kind of set he’s doing.
For example, Kalisz said that includes working to negative-split the second half — the breaststroke and freestyle legs — of 400 IMs in practice. He said it’s also about “being comfortable not using legs on my butterfly, even it was a butterfly-specific set,” because he can’t waste his legs on the opening 100 of the 400 IM if he wants to have a strong finish.
But make no mistake, even a top-notch swimmer like Kalisz thinks this event is a torturous one, but he said he’s worked to embrace the impending pain that’s guaranteed every time he dives into the water for the 400 IM.
“There’s a lot of really great 400 IMers out there,” Kalisz said. “But if you really want to break into that world-class, rarefied air of I guess, say, 4:07 or faster, that’s how you have to train, and that’s really kind of a mindset you have to have you have. You have to embrace the pain the 400 IM brings, and that’s what I spent the last year or so doing.
“I’ve had races where I was never really nervous for the race, but I was more so nervous for the pain that is about to come and how I was going to feel the next day. And that’s really what the culmination of this year for me has been, was embracing that, looking forward to that.”
The 400 IM made its Olympic debut at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, and 17-year-old American Dick Roth won gold and broke the world record, amazingly despite being told he needed to have an emergency operation for acute appendicitis. He refused the operation in favor of the Olympic final, and apparently the pain of the grueling race outweighed his illness because “I forgot my hot appendix during the race,” Roth said, via Swimming World magazine.
While Kalisz’s trials time in the 400 IM was a comfortable five seconds off Phelps’ world record, the Rio silver medalist owns the fourth-fastest time in history in the event at 4:05.90, which he swam at the 2017 world championships. After Phelps’ world record, Ryan Lochte has the second-fastest time ever (4:05.18) and Phelps has the third (4:05.25).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY7QIrKSKOo
The 400 IM is so viciously taxing that Kalisz said he’s not sure how many more races he has left in him at this point in his swimming career.
“I could have two 400 IMs left in my career,” Kalisz said about the heats and final at the Tokyo Olympics (there are no semifinals in this event). “I don’t want to say that for sure. I don’t want to commit to anything for sure.
“I can go longer. But there’s not too many left of those for me, so I’m going to make every single one of them hurt as much as I can. And like I said, I’m looking forward to it.”
The heats of the men’s 400 IM open the swimming competition at the Tokyo Games on Saturday with the final set for the following day.
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