Big splash for USA

American swimmers run up medal count

TOKYO — Michael Phelps was up in his broadcast seat, a mere observer rather than the driving force of U.S. swimming.

No need to fret about what he left behind.

The Americans are off to a flying start at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

Displaying their trademark depth, the U.S. earned six of 12 medals Sunday on the first morning of finals, showing no signs of slipping even without the most decorated athlete in Olympic history.

From Chase Kalisz’s gold in the 400-meter individual medley to Kieran Smith pulling out a bronze in his first major international competition, there was plenty of red, white and blue on the medal podium.

“We were in the warmup pool seeing people get a gold medal, get second, get second and third. It was crazy,” said Abbey Weitzeil, who was part of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay team that claimed a bronze in the final event of the session.

“It just fired us up and got us really excited.”

Kalisz got things rolling with his victory in the grueling medley, making up for a second-place showing at the 2016 Rio Games. Jay Litherland rallied on the final leg to give the Americans a 1-2 finish that set the tone for the rest of the morning.

“I really kind of do feel like I let the U.S. down in ’16 even though I swam a lot faster than here,” Kalisz said. “The USA has a proud legacy of the 400 IM — (Tom) Dolan, Phelps, (Ryan) Lochte.”

Kalisz and Litherland caught a break when home-country favorite Daiya Seto failed to advance from the preliminaries.

The Americans took advantage. Kalisz pulled away on the breaststroke, his best leg, and Litherland rallied on the closing freestyle for second.

Turns out, the Americans were just getting started.

Smith, who emerged from obscurity with a breakthrough performance at the U.S. trials last month, proved he was no fluke by finishing third in the 400 free.