CLEVELAND — The United States won its first gold medal of the Paris Olympics on Saturday in the men's 4x100-meter freestyle swim.
Caeleb Dressel pulled ahead with a massive lead in the anchor leg to secure the gold, followed by Australia with silver and Italy with bronze.
It was the eighth medal of Dressel's career — all of them gold.
The two youngsters who beat Dressel at the U.S. trials in the 100 freestyle, Jack Alexy and Chris Guiliano, started things off for the Americans. Then it was Hunter Armstrong turning the fastest leg of all to give Dressel a commanding lead to work with at the end.
Team United States celebrates after winning the men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay final at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
He won going away in 3:09.28, pumping his fist and slapping hands with his teammates when he saw another No. 1 beside their names.
The women's team took home silver in the same event, losing to Australia.
The Australian quartet of Mollie O'Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris set an Olympic record with a winning time of 3:28.92.
The Americans — Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel — rallied to take silver in 3:30.20. They edged China's team of Yang Junxuan, Cheng Yujie, Zhang Yufei and Wu Qingfeng by a tenth of a second.
Original Story:
Ohio swimmer Hunter Armstrong, a native of Dover, got his first taste of Paris Games competition on Saturday, competing with Team USA in the heats for the men's 4x100m freestyle relay and helping the team qualify for the event's final.
The Dover High School and Ohio State University alum, in his second Olympics after winning gold in the 4x100m medley relay in Tokyo, spurred the Americans to a second-place finish in Heat 2. The USA finished narrowly behind their biggest rival in the pool, Australia, and about a second behind the fastest overall time set by China.
Armstrong, 23, swam and the USA's fastest leg of the team's four swimmers, clocking 47.50 seconds over his 100m. Armstrong's team includes seven-time gold medalist Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Held and Matt King.
The Americans' time of 3:12.61, 0.36 seconds behind Australia's 3:12.25, was good for fourth overall among all teams in both heat races. The People's Republic of China won Heat 1 with a 3:11.62 times, with Great Britain nearly a second behind them at 3:12.49.
