The United States' first gold medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics went to the 4x100-meter men's freestyle relay team in a thrilling race.
When Caeleb Dressel, the anchor leg of the four-man team, touched the wall, the United States posted a final time of 3:09.28, beating out the team's Australian rivals by more than a full second.
Australia earned silver with a time of 3:10.05, while Italy edged out China for bronze at 3:10.70.
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For Dressel, this is his eighth Olympic gold medal, but he wouldn’t have secured it without the efforts of Chris Guiliano, Jack Alexy and Hunter Armstrong, who had a combined one Olympic medal of any kind entering the pool on Saturday.
Alexy, considered to be the next great swimmer at 21, swam the first leg of the relay, and he set the tone for the U.S.
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Guiliano, also 21, followed him and started to create an edge before Armstrong created a gap between the competition.
As Armstrong touched the wall, the veteran Dressel came flying into the pool to run away with the race. Australia, Italy and China were all trying to play catch-up, but Dressel wasn’t giving them that opportunity.
This victory is a tone setter for the rest of the men’s swimming competitions. Australia and China are U.S. rivals trying to ascend to the world swimming throne.
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