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Team USA brought home their first gold medal of the 2024 Olympics after storming to victory in the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay.
The team, consisting of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano and Hunter Armstrong, was anchored by Caleb Dressel, who earned the eighth gold medal of his career.
Following the win a tearful Dressel was pictured celebrating with his baby son, who wore ear defenders, and his wife.
Despite Alexy being in second after the first leg, Guiliano put in an incredible shift, bringing the US back to the front well ahead of the competition. The quartet posted a time of 3:09.28 to win the first US gold but fell short of world record expectations.
The world record belongs to Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak, who posted a 3:08.24 time at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Prior to this summer’s games Phelps, Jones and Lezak had all predicted their record would finally fall, some 16 years later.
Kyle Chalmers charged through the field to take silver for Australia in the event and bronze went to Italy.
The success in the relay follows a disappointing result in the women’s 400 meter freestyle, where US champion Katie Ledecky was blown out of the water by Australian star Ariarne Titmus.
Titmus, known as “The Terminator,” led from start to finish in the 400-meter freestyle Saturday night and handed Ledecky a second straight Olympic defeat in an event the American won at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Titmus faced her stiffest challenge from 17-year-old Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh, but she won comfortably as McIntosh claimed the silver. Ledecky settled for bronze.
Australia then made it two for two against the Americans in the women’s 4x100 freestyle relay, claiming its fourth straight Olympic title in that event.
The 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.
