USA Men Restore 4x100 Freestyle Dominance with New Stars Leading Dressel to 8th Gold

The United States men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay team, led by two first-time Olympians and anchored by veteran and now eight-time Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel in his third, came from behind to win gold in Paris on Saturday in 3:09.28.

The relay team fell short of a world record but still made a statement in an event the Americans have dominated for most of the last decade. After a third-place finish in the 2023 world championships, they restored their dominance, taking the top spot back from Australia.

The relative youth of this team could make the U.S. a formidable relay force in years to come.

This is the first Olympics for leadoff Jack Alexy and Chris Guiliano, who swam the relay's second leg. Both are 21 and will be college seniors this fall—Alexy at Cal Berkeley and Guiliano at Notre Dame, where he is the school's first swimmer to make an Olympic team.

Hunter Armstrong, 23, who swam third, competed in Tokyo in 2021 where he won a gold medal in the men's 4x100-meter medley relay, swimming backstroke; he also placed ninth there in the 100-meter backstroke. He swam at West Virginia and Ohio State, where he graduated, before turning pro in 2022 after setting the world record in the men's 50-meter backstroke at the U.S. International Team Trials that year.

Dressel, who won the 100-meter freestyle in Tokyo, had just the eighth-fastest time in the relay final (47.53). But that's all the U.S. needed after Armstrong posted a blistering 46.75 time—the second-fastest of the entire final—and Guiliano recorded a very strong time of 47.33.

The Americans were second after Alexy (47.67) was topped by China's Pan Zhanle (46.92) in the first leg, but they never trailed again once Guiliano caught China's Ji Xinjie.

An eight-year winning streak for the United States in the event ended at the 2023 world championships when the relay squad of Ryan Held, Alexy, Guiliano and Matt King finished in bronze-medal position behind Australia and Italy despite qualifying first to the final.

At Olympic Trials, however, Guiliano, Alexy, Dressel and Armstrong finished in the top four slots in the men's 100-meter freestyle, all with times under 48 seconds, cementing their spots on the Olympic relay. Their results prompted Cullen Jones, a veteran of the legendary U.S. team that won gold and set the world record in the event in Beijing in 2008, to speculate to USA Today that this could be the year that his team's record fell. That didn't happen, but the gold medal was by no means a guarantee.

Held, King, Armstrong and Dressel placed second in their semifinal heat on Saturday, qualifying for the final in fourth place with a time of 3:12.61, behind China, Australia and Great Britain.

Held and King were replaced for the final by Alexy and Guiliano, respectively. A big question that remained was whether Dressel would anchor again, as in the prelims, or serve as the leadoff leg. "It's like a chess match," Phelps, who is providing commentary for NBC, said of relay composition. The proper order of the relay, Phelps said, would make the difference in the team's performance.

The relay team's veteran, Dressel, 27, won his eighth Olympic gold medal. He swam in both Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and in Tokyo in 2021 and swam on the gold-medal 4x100 meter relay squads at both Games. He took time off from the sport and was not on the 2023 relay team at worlds. His wife, Meghan, gave birth to their son, August Wilder Dressel, on February 17.

Dressel maintained his anchor spot and maintained a lead extended by Armstrong over his Australian nemesis, Kyle Chalmers, ultimately winning by more than a body length. Chalmers and Dressel have traded gold and silver medals throughout their careers in the individual men's 100-meter freestyle, with Chalmers winning the Olympic gold in Rio and Dressel taking it back in Tokyo. Chalmers has characterized his relationship with Dressel as "a very healthy rivalry."

After the relay victory, Meghan Dressel could be seen on television celebrating the United States' first gold medal in Paris with Snoop Dogg. August was asleep.