The U.S. men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team celebrates after winning the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics on Saturday in Nanterre, France.
Martin Meissner/AP
hide caption
convert caption
Martin Meissner/AP
PARIS — The United States won its first gold medal of the Paris Olympics on Saturday with victory in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay final.
The race brought the United States into the fray with a strong Australian quartet taking silver, while
Italy won the bronze medal.
The US team, led by veteran Caeleb Dressel, finished more than a second ahead of the Australian team.
This is Dressel’s eighth gold medal.
The US team consisted of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano and Hunter Armstrong.
There was speculation that this US team could break the world record set by Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak in 2008. But that did not happen.
US women’s swimmers win silver medal in relay final
The US win came after a long-standing rivalry between the US and Australia, which came to a head on Saturday.
Australia won gold in the women’s 4x100m relay, while the United States took silver.
In that race, the US women’s team set a new American record.
“Our goal was to break the American record and get as close as we could to the Australian record, so we’re really happy with that result,” said American swimmer Simone Manuel.
Earlier at La Defense Arena in Paris, Australian Ariarne Titmus won the gold medal. an outstanding performance in the 400 meter freestyle race.
Katie Ledecky of the United States take copper behind the silver medal of Summer McIntosh from Canada.
