You are working on Staging1

Carson Foster Bests Michael Phelps’ 15-16 400 IM NAG Record in Fiji

In prelims of the 400 IM Friday morning at the 2018 Jr. Pan Pacific Championships, 16-year-old Carson Foster took almost three tenths off Michael Phelps‘ 15-16 National Age Group record in the 400 IM.

Foster, who bested Caeleb Dressel‘s 200 free 15-16 NAG Thursday, split 57.02/1:03.52/1:14.08/1:00.30 to win the race in 4:14.92. Phelps’ previous record was 4:15.20, set in 2001. Phelps now only holds one 15-16 NAG: his 1:54.58 200 fly, also from 2001.

We were unable to locate Phelps’ splits from the 2001 US Spring National Championships anywhere. If you have them, please send to [email protected], and we’ll compare them with Foster’s.

Foster’s previous best time was from U.S. Summer Nationals in 2017, where he went 4:21.10.

The Texas commit is the top qualifier in the event by over five seconds, with Japan’s Masayuki Otake and Keiya Tamaru tied for second in 4:20.23. In fourth was Carson’s older brother Jake Foster in 4:21.29.

Top 10 All-Time: US Boys 15-16 400 IM

1 Carson Foster 4:14.92
2 Michael Phelps 4:15.20
3 Sean Grieshop 4:15.67
4 Gunnar Bentz 4:17.43
5 Jake Foster 4:19.40
6 Marci Barta 4:19.47
7 Andrew Seliskar 4:20.96
8 Jarod Arroyo 4:20.96
9 Robert Finke 4:21.04
10 Mikey Calvillo 4:22.09

Race Video:

In This Story

48
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

48 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
running start to touch backstroke flags
6 years ago

No country will catch USA swimming, ever… it is just sick how much talent there is in short course yards age groupers translating into LCM success… Other countries should train short course yards for most the year like the USA does.

Pvdh

It’s mostly because of how the NCAA is set up and how close athletics and academics are tied together. That level of motivation and that level of talent scouting is unmatchable.

Caeleb Dressel Will Get 9 Golds in Tokyo
6 years ago

I think Carson may be the guy who will take down Lochte’s 1:54.00, and Phelps 4:03.84 maybe (I don’t see Chase doing it tbh, I think 4:04 is peak for him).

Teddy
6 years ago

Is this his best event now? Certainly didn’t anticipate such a fast swim… in prelims of an event he doesn’t swim often..

MTK
6 years ago

Wow, Litherland better step his game up, because Foster is gunning for him now.

marklewis
6 years ago

Carson Foster can swim all the strokes very well. He’s fun to watch, just “oozes” talent.

Troy's Magic Stache
6 years ago

Eddie will at least make that a sub 4:10 🙂

Pvdh
Reply to  Troy's Magic Stache
6 years ago

He might be there before he gets To Texas. He still has 2 years

Troy's Magic Stache
Reply to  Pvdh
6 years ago

Yeah I wanted to say that but I was thinking people would say I’m being too ambitious

Pvdh
6 years ago

Oh my goodness. Every IM prospect other than Kalisz better be on notice.

Jalen Stimes
6 years ago

I am speechless… he IS the next GOAT.

Lpman
Reply to  Jalen Stimes
6 years ago

Too soon…too soon

Love to Swim
Reply to  Jalen Stimes
6 years ago

At Foster’s age, Phelps and Thorpe had broken multiple world records and became world champion.

Foster has not even broken a single Junior WR.

About Torrey Hart

Torrey Hart

Torrey is from Oakland, CA, and majored in media studies and American studies at Claremont McKenna College, where she swam distance freestyle for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team. Outside of SwimSwam, she has bylines at Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, SB Nation, and The Student Life newspaper.

Read More »