NBC Olympics.com – Team USA member Chase Kalisz, training partner of Michael Phelps who is competing in his first Olympic Games, posted the top time of Saturday's preliminary heats to enter the 400m individual medley final in first place. He clocked four minutes, 8.12 seconds to finish just ahead of Japan's Daiya Seto, the 2015 World Champion in the event.
Kosuke Hagino, also of Japan, had the third-fastest time of the morning, racing to 4:10.00. American Jay Litherland, who beat out reigning Olympic champion Ryan Lochte at the U.S. Trials in June, is fourth headed into this evening's final with a time of 4:11.10.
Recommended Videos
In distances longer than 400m, there is no semifinal and the top eight swimmers advance directly to the final from the preliminary heats.
Reigning Olympic champion and new mother, Dana Vollmer, advanced to the semifinals of the 100m butterfly in second with a time of 56.56 second. U.S. teammate Kelsi Worrell also advanced in fourth place, clocking 56.97. Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom, the reigning world champion and world record holder, posted the fastest time of the morning, 56.26 seconds, to advance to the semifinal in first place.
The event continues live below with the men's 400m freestyle, women's 400m individual medley, men's 100m breaststroke and women's 4x100m freestyle relay heats.