Japan's Daiya Seto failed to win a third straight gold medal in the men's 400-meter individual medley at the world swimming championships on Sunday and settled for bronze in his trademark event on the final day of competition.

Seto had been hoping to make amends after taking bronze in the 200 butterfly and placing fifth in the 200 IM earlier this week, but saw his chances fade after turning the halfway point in fifth and touching the wall at the Danube Arena in 4 minutes, 9.14 seconds.

Though his final spurt in the freestyle leg helped him secure a podium spot alongside American Chase Kalisz, who claimed gold in 4:05.90 to complete a 200-400 IM double, and Hungary's David Verraszto, who took silver in 4:08.38, Seto had hoped for more.

"(After finding myself fifth at the halfway turn) I had to change my strategy and aim for bronze (instead of gold)," said the 23-year-old Seto.

"I wanted one gold medal more than two bronze medals. I need to start training beyond the textbook basics or I can't win. I have to accept the results and work hard towards the (2020) Tokyo Olympics," he said.

Rio Olympic gold medalist Kosuke Hagino finished sixth in the same event in 4:12.65.

"(At my current level) I'm not even in contention (for a medal). I'm upset but this is the best I can do now. I have to believe that I'm strong enough to become world No. 1 again and keep going," said Hagino.

In the non-Olympic event of men's 50-meter backstroke, Junya Koga won silver, finishing 0.16 second behind Camille Lacourt of France, who clocked 24.35 seconds for gold. U.S. swimmer Matt Grevers took bronze in 24.56.

It was the 30-year-old Koga's first medal at the worlds in eight years. He picked up two -- a gold in the 100 backstroke and silver in the 50 backstroke -- at the Rome meet in 2009 as a senior at Waseda University.

"I was targeting a gold medal so it's really too bad. I got a bit tense towards the end and lost my speed. I should've kept calm and raced safely," said Koga.

In the women's 400 IM, Yui Ohashi, a silver medalist in the 200 IM, finished fourth, followed by Japanese compatriot Sakiko Shimizu in fifth. Katinka Hosszu of Hungary posted a winning time of 4:29.33, with Mireia Belmonte of Spain taking silver and Sydney Pickrem of Canada bronze.

"I was hoping to win a medal so I'm disappointed. I have no regrets about the way I swam but I'm still disappointed. It was a learning experience and I promise to use this as a stepping stone onto the next level of my swimming career," said Ohashi.

In the men's 4x100-meter medley relay, the Japanese team of Ryosuke Irie, Yasuhiko Koseki, Yuki Kobori and Shinri Shioura finished fourth while rewriting a national record with a time of 3:30.19.

Japan won a total of seven swimming medals in the July 14-30 championships, but for the first time in three meets it finished with no gold medal. Four of the seven medals were silver.

The United States topped the swimming medals table with 38 -- 18 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze.

"While Japanese Olympic medalists are struggling, foreign swimmers are improving their records. I see this as a threat. We need to enhance training for athletes in all areas, including mindset qualities," said Japan coach Norimasa Hirai.