Carson Foster has been the best male swimmer at the U.S. Championships, and he’s not done.
The 21-year-old, who recently turned pro, notched his second win this week, tacking Thursday’s 400m individual medley to his 200m butterfly title from Tuesday.
Foster, the former University of Texas standout, clocked 4 minutes, 8.14 seconds, edging Olympic champion Chase Kalisz by eight hundredths. Kalisz, 29, is set to swim at a U.S. record-tying sixth world championships.
Both Americans are chasing Frenchman Leon Marchand, who rattled Michael Phelps’ world record at last June’s worlds with the second-fastest time in history.
Foster is also favored to win the 200m IM at nationals. IM champs usually earn the label as best all-around swimmer. Foster has ascended since placing third and fourth in the IMs at the Tokyo Olympic Trials, where the top two in each made the team.
While the Tokyo Games were happening in July 2021, Foster swam a 400m IM in Austin in 4:08.46, a time that would have won the Olympic gold medal the following day.
Then last year, Foster took silver in both IMs at worlds behind Marchand, who now trains with Kalisz at Arizona State.
Nationals continue Friday, live on Peacock.
SWIMMING NATIONALS: Broadcast Schedule | Results
Also Thursday, rising Cal senior Dare Rose won the 100m fly in 50.74 seconds, with 16-year-old Thomas Heilman taking second by lowering his national age group record by 79 hundredths between prelims and the final.
Heilman, who broke Phelps’ national age group record for 15- and 16-year-olds in taking second in the 200m fly, will become the youngest U.S. man to ever swim in multiple individual events at a worlds, according to Bill Mallon of Olympedia.org. He is also younger than any U.S. man who swam in multiple individual events at an Olympics in 50 years.
Five-time Tokyo Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel tied for fifth on Thursday.
Dressel, who was 19th in the 100m free and third in the 50m fly earlier this week, has one event left, the 50m free on Saturday. He entered nationals ranked 16th in the nation in that event this year by best time. If he does not finish in the top two on Saturday, he will not be on the world team.
Dressel withdrew during last June’s worlds on unspecified medical grounds, took at least two months off from swimming and returned to training with his University of Florida group in late January or early February.
World champion Torri Huske rallied past Gretchen Walsh to take the women’s 100m fly by 16 hundredths in 56.34.
In the women’s 400m IM, world silver medalist Katie Grimes overcame a 1.88-second deficit after 300 meters to win by 1.66 over Alex Walsh, the world 200m IM champion.
Emma Weyant, the Olympic silver medalist and world bronze medalist, was disqualified in the heats, reportedly for an illegal kick during the breaststroke leg, after posting the second-fastest prelim time.
In non-Olympic events, Lilly King (50m breaststroke), Nic Fink (50m breast), Katharine Berkoff (50m backstroke) and Justin Ress (50m back) prevailed.
