Team USA swimmer Carson Foster needed just a fingertip to win silver in the 400-meter individual medley final at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday.
As Foster came flying down the final 50 meters in the race, swimming freestyle, the entire pack was competing for silver as French star Leon Marchand, well ahead of the competition, chased his own world record. Marchand won the first gold medal of his career.
Foster and Japan’s Matsushita Tomoyuki were jousting for silver and bronze coming down the stretch, and it looked like the one with longer arms would win.
Carson Foster competes on day two of the Olympic Games at Paris La Defense Arena on July 28, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
As both swimmers reached out, it was Tomoyuki who touched the wall first, finishing with a final time of 4:08.62.
Foster came in with a time of 4:08.66 – four one-hundredths of a second was the difference between silver and bronze.
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Still, Foster added to USA’s medal count, which was tied with Australia at the end of day one on Saturday.
The 22-year-old American is not going to complain after collecting his first career Olympic medal. He’ll look to get more as he’s set to compete in the men’s 200-meter individual medley as well.
Carson Foster before competing in the men’s 400-meter individual medley final at Paris La Defense Arena on July 28, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Looking at the rest of the final times, Great Britain’s Max Litchfield (4.08.85) came in fourth, while Italy’s Alberto Razzetti (4:09.38) came in fifth.
For Marchand, it was all elation for him once out of the pool, as his home country was raucous in the crowd for his gold-medal finish.
Marchand’s 4:02.95 finish might not have beaten his 4:02.50 world record, which he set in 2023 after surpassing his coach, USA legend Michael Phelps, but it is a new Olympic record.
Carson Foster and Japan’s Matsushita Tomoyuki were jousting for silver and bronze coming down the stretch. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
Phelps swam 4:03.84 in this event during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which was a world and Olympic record at the time.
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