RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Chase Kalisz won the silver medal in the 400-meter Individual Medley at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium Saturday.
Kalisz, a 22-year-old from the University of Georgia, finished second only behind Kosuke Hagino from Japan.
Ryan Lochte won the gold medal in the 400-meter IM in the London Olympics in 2012. Kalisz wanted to keep the gold with the U.S., but he came up short. He is already thinking about taking it back.
"Only thing is that's an American event," Kalisz said to NBC after the race."I want to continue that history. I've got another four years. That's my goal now."
Kalisz was out of the top three after the first 100 meters of butterfly, but crept up to third after the backstroke. He went into the final two laps of freestyle in second where he would stay for the remainder of the race.
"I knew (Hagino) was going to be ahead the 200. Tried to bring it home at the end, but it wasn't enough this time," Kalisz said.
His teammate on the Bulldogs Jay Litherland finished fifth.
Kalisz and Litherland qualified earlier Saturday in their Olympic debuts.
Each set a personal best time in the qualifying round of the men's 400 meter individual medley.
Not only did Kalisz set a lifetime best time of 4:08.12, but he finished the top in his group and will be the top seed in Saturday night's final. Kalisz finished just ahead of Japan's Daiya Seto, the 2015 World Champion in the event.
Two more UGA swimmers will compete for Gold medals Saturday night. Allison Schmitt and Amanda Weir are part of the 4x100 meter relay team for USA.
