Medley prospect makes statement

Kiwi swims the quickest time of his life to qualify second-fastest for today’s final, writes Mark Geenty.

Lewis Clareburt stamped himself as a major contender for New Zealand’s first medal of the Olympic Games, after rattling off the fastest 400m individual medley time of his life last night.

The 22-year-old from Wellington, on his Games debut, won heat three in a time of 4min 09.49sec to qualify second-fastest of the eight men who will splash for medals in the final at 1.30pm today (NZT).

Clareburt knocked 0.38s off his national record set in April in a hugely impressive swim, leading for most of the contest and beating one of the top contenders Chase Kalisz, of the United States, by 0.16s.

Australian Brendon Smith won heat four to qualify fastest in a time of 4:09.27, the only one to better Clareburt. In a major shock, gold medal favourite and 2019 world champion Daiya Seto of Japan led out in heat four, but faded badly in the final 50m to miss the final.

On the biggest day of his short international career, Clareburt lived up to expectations in his top event and was far from overawed on opening night at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Crowds weren’t permitted in the impressive 15,000-seat stadium due to Covid19 but some fellow swimmers poolside helped with the decibel levels.

Now, after a night’s sleep and with further improvement, Clareburt will attempt a hugely significant feat for New Zealand swimming which hasn’t produced an Olympic medallist since Danyon Loader’s double gold in Atlanta in 1996.

Up against Kalisz, whose 4:05.90 from 2017 is the thirdfastest 400m IM of all time, Clareburt led out boldly and at the halfway mark, after the butterfly and backstroke, he was 1.28s in front.

Clareburt slipped to third after the breaststroke at the 300m before clawing it back on the freestyle and holding his rivals over the final length.

He has a quick turnaround now for an even bigger day in his fast-rising career. As has now become customary in Olympics swimming in certain time zones, heats are contested at night and the finals in the morning, to satisfy lucrative US television audiences.

There was disappointment for Zac Reid, who failed to qualify for the 400m freestyle final yesterday.

New Zealand cyclist George Bennett has missed out on a medal in the men’s road race after losing contact on the brutal ascent of Mikuni Pass.

Bennett was well positioned heading into the penultimate climb but got dropped after favourites Belgium and Slovenia drove up the pace at the front of the peloton yesterday.

The Nelson rider finished 6min 20sec behind winner Richard Carapaz in 27th place overall.

Bennett spent the majority of the race tucked away safely in the peloton but cracked with 37.5km remaining in the 243km race.

Ecuadorian Carapaz broke free with 4.5km to go to claim the gold in a time of 6hr 5min 26sec.

Bennett’s Jumbo-Visma teammate Wout van Aert (Belgium) edged Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) in a photo finish to take the silver.

Patrick Bevin, who rode in support of Bennett, abandoned the race with 72km remaining after a stint at the front of the peloton. He guided Bennett to the base of Fuji Sanroku, the first major climb.

Bennett improved on his 33rd placing in Rio 2016.