July 27 (UPI) — Caeleb Dressel ripped his hands and feet through the water, keeping foes hopeless and anchoring a winning American effort in the men’s 4×100-meter relay Saturday to earn Team USA’s first gold medal of the Paris Olympics.
Dressel, who has now won eight gold medals in eight career Olympic appearances, teamed up with Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano and Hunter Armstrong to clock a 3:09.28 time and the victory.
“I know that last 50 [meters], I just wanted to win a gold medal for these guys,” Dressel said on the NBC broadcast. “I’ve had my moments in the sport. It’s time for these guys to have them.
“It’s really special. That’s what we came here to do.”
Australia placed second in the event, held at Paris La Defense Arena. Italy won a bronze medal.
China got off to a great start, winning the first 100-meter swim of the race. Alexy then handed off to Chris Guiliano for Team USA’s second leg.
Guiliano quickly gained the lead for the Americans. Armstrong, the third-leg swimmer, proceeded to explode, swimming a split of 46.75 to build a major lead.
He then touched the wall, ending his swim and triggering Dressel’s jump into the pool. The star swimmer, who won five gold medals at Tokyo 2020, kept the large lead, muscling through the wake of his elite foes en route to Team USA’s first gold medal of the Summer Olympics.
The victory also was Team USA’s third-consecutive in the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay, dating back to Rio 2016.
“I’ve always been one for relays, but every person on this team, we all have our job to do and we each did our job,” Armstrong said.
“That’s how magical things happen.”
Earlier Saturday, American Katie Ledecky earned her 11th career Olympic medal with a bronze medal finish in the women’s 400-meter freestyle. With one more medal, Ledecky would tie Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin as the most-decorated female swimmers in Olympics history.
Australian Ariarne Titmus won the 400-meter freestyle, defending her title from Tokyo 2020. Canada’s Summer McIntosh placed second.
Katie Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel led Team USA to a silver medal in the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay. They clocked an American-record time of 3:30.20.
Australia won gold in the event with an Olympic-record time of 3:28.92. China placed third.
Walsh also set an Olympic record during Saturday’s swims, clocking a time of 55.38 seconds in the women’s 100-meter butterfly semifinals. She will compete in the final Sunday in Paris.
German Lukas Martens won the first swimming medal of the Olympics. He clocked a 3:41.78 in the men’s 400-meter freestyle to earn gold Saturday at Paris 2024. Australia’s Elijah Winnington placed second, followed by Korea’s Kim Woomin.
Olympic swimming events will continue Sunday, with three medal events held at Paris La Defense Arena. The men’s 400-meter individual medley will be the first final of that slate, followed by the women’s 100-meter butterfly final and men’s 100-meter breaststroke final.
