Tokyo, Japan - The first Olympic medal in these games for Team USA was earned in the pool as Chase Kalisz won his first career gold medal in the men's 400-meter Individual Medley.

It’s been somewhat of a long time coming for Kalisz (27), who earned silver in the same event back in Rio during the 2016 summer games.

In his last Olympic competition, coming up short opened the door for redemption this time around, and Kalisz swam right through it and straight to the long-awaited gold medal.

Kalisz finished the race in 4 minutes, 9.42 seconds.

He wasn’t always in command of the final race, swimming in second place until he switched over to the breaststroke to take over the lead as he ended up touching the wall first.

American teammate Jay Litherland finished right behind him at 4 minutes, 10.28 seconds to take the silver medal. Brendon Smith of the rival swimming nation of Australia ended up with the bronze.

Emma Weyant grabbed silver and Hali Flickinger took bronze in the women’s 400 IM, while Kieran Smith earned himself a bronze in the men's 400 freestyle to add to Team USA’s medal count.