Team USA’s men’s swim team had a dominant showing in the 4x100m freestyle relay on Saturday, helping the country officially claim its first gold medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The U.S. was guided in the relay by Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong, and Caeleb Dressel. With a time of 3:09.28, the U.S. finished more than one second ahead of the silver medalist.
Australia claimed the silver medal after its team finished with a time of 3:10.35, while Italy was forced to settle for the bronze medal after finishing the relay in 3:10.70.
Matt King and Ryan Held, who were initially slotted to take part in the relay following their morning heats but were swapped out in favor of Alexy and Guiliano, will also receive gold medals since they were listed on the team, as reported by The Hill.
Alexy and Guiliano opened the race for Team USA in solid fashion, followed by Armstrong swimming the fastest leg of the race to give Dressel some breathing room as he anchored the team to secure the victory.
Team USA celebrated by making a lap around the arena while giving out hugs and high-fives.
Dressel has now won eight career Olympic gold medals. After the race, he said that relays “are a little more special” since he gets to win the gold alongside his teammates.
“So doing it with these guys has been awesome. It takes me back to my first gold. It really doesn’t get old. Really special standing on the podium with these guys watching the flag go up. I’m extremely proud of them. It made my job easy,” he added, according to ESPN.
Team USA has now won a gold medal in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay in 10 of the last 13 Olympic games, marking a dominant run for the Americans over the years, per CBS News.
While this gold medal was the first claimed by the USA during these Olympic Games, it is doubtful that it will be anywhere close to the last.
Team USA has a history of being near the top for countries with the most gold medals in every Olympics. The U.S. has won over 30 gold medals in every Summer Olympics it has participated in since 1948.