China’s Sun Yang arrived in Rio looking to defend his gold medal in the 400 meter freestyle. But yang fell just short of a repeat in the event, with Australia’s Mack Horton holding off the reigning Olympic champion to win Australia’s first gold medal of the Rio Olympics. Horton, who posted the second-fastest time of the qualifying heats, finished the final with a time of 3:41.51 with Yang just 17 one-hundredths of a second behind at 3:41.68.
Winning the bronze medal was Gabriele Detti of Italy, who finished with a time of 3:43.49. The United States failed to medal in this event, with Conor Dwyer finishing fourth with a time of 3:44.