Shock as Ahmed Hafnaoui of Tunisia powers to gold in 400m freestyle

Tunisian teenager Ahmed Hafnaoui caused one of the biggest stirs of the Tokyo Olympics so far with a stunning 400m freestyle gold medal – but insisted his massive personal best was purely down to “hard work”.

The 18-year-old summoned a thrilling last 50m to come home in 3min 43.36sec to overhaul the Australian Jack McLoughlin, who took silver, and American Kieran Smith, who won bronze. What made the Tunisian’s performance even more impressive was that his PB at the start of the 2021 was six seconds slower at 3:49.90. And while he had improved that to 3:46.16 in the build up to Tokyo, he was still ranked just 16th in the field.

When asked whether he was surprised to win, Hafnaoui nodded. “Of course,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. I didn’t believe it until I touched the wall and saw my face first. I saw the Australian guy from lane six, I guess in the [last] 200m. It was a great fight at the end. I’m feeling great. I am feeling proud.”

But Hafnaoui’s dramatic improvement was questioned by journalists who asked how he improved so much after coming eighth in the 2018 Youth Olympics. “I was surprised at first that I was a finalist,” he said. “And now I am surprised I won a gold medal. I just worked hard with my coach, that’s it.”

Hafnaoui also praised his fellow Tunisian, Oussama Mellouli, who returned from an Adderall-related drugs ban to win 1500m freestyle gold at the 2008 Olympics and 10km marathon gold at London 2012. Mellouli, at 37, will also be back at these Games hoping to add a third gold medal of his career in the open water swim.

“I have a great relationship with him,” explained Hafnaoui. “He wished me good luck before the race. And I wish him well in the 10k open water. He is a legend. I wish to be like him one day.”

Others have raised concerns about whether results at these Games can be trusted given the lack of testing during the pandemic, but when asked McLoughlin played that down.

“We have had rigorous testing back at home, just like normal,” he said. “And I think throughout the world it has been the same. Since we have been here we have had so many tests and the Japanese have done a really good job at drug testing everybody, so I don’t think there’s anything to say about it.”

Elsewhere on the second day of action in the pool, there was delight for Japan as home swimmer Yui Ohashi won gold in the women’s 400m individual medley. However, Britain’s Aimee Wilmott was left in tears after putting it all on the line and coming seventh.

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The American Chase Kalisz took the honours in the men’s equivalent, but Britain’s Max Litchfield struggled to speak after finishing fourth – the same position he had occupied in Rio. “It’s gutting,” said Litchfield. “So close but so far. I’ve done everything I can these last five years, just not quite enough.”

There was also no joy for Britain’s 4x100m women’s relay team, as despite setting a national record they finished fifth behind Australia, who set a world record of 3:29.69, second-placed Canada and the USA who came third.