PARIS, France — 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.
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.
When does Caeleb Dressel compete again?
Dressel is set to compete again in the men's 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly.
- Men's 50m freestyle: Thursday, August 1 (prelims), Friday, August 2 (finals)
- Men's 100m butterfly: Friday, August 2 (prelims), Saturday, August 3 (finals)