Tomoyuki Matsushita swam to a silver medal in the men's 400 individual medley at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, with the 18-year-old Japanese making a shock appearance on the podium.
Reigning world champion and world record holder Leon Marchand of France won the gold in an Olympic record 4 minutes, 2.95 seconds at Paris La Defense Arena, with Matsushita touching 5.67 seconds behind and just ahead of bronze medalist Carson Foster of the United States.
"I had many challenges to overcome in this competition and I am so happy," Matsushita said. "I just tried to enjoy myself in the moment."
"All I have to say is it was an amazing feeling."
Japan's Daiya Seto, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist in the event, finished seventh, touching almost nine seconds behind Marchand.
Matsushita had a slow start, turning in seventh after the backstroke leg, but gradually overhauled his competitors.
He was sixth after the breaststroke and fifth after the butterfly before storming home with the fastest freestyle leg to take his first Olympic medal.
"I was absolutely certain that I was the strongest in the final freestyle leg. I'm glad I endured the tough training and worked hard," Matsushita said.
Mizuki Hirai was the only other Japanese swimmer to feature in a final on Sunday.
The 17-year-old finished seventh in the women's 100 butterfly won by American Torri Huske in 55.59 seconds.
Huske's compatriot Gretchen Walsh, the world and Olympic record holder, took silver and Zhang Yufei of China bronze.
"I'm very disappointed that I was about one second slower than my personal best," Hirai said. "I wasn't in good condition to reach my full potential."
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