PARIS, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The United States cruised to their third straight Olympic gold medal in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay at Paris 2024 on Saturday.
Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Caeleb Dressel won in three minutes, 9.28 seconds, beating the closest followers Australia (Jack Cartright, Flynn Southam, Kai Taylor and Kyle Chalmers) with more than a second.
Italy's Alessandro Miressi, Thomas Ceccon, Paolo Conte Bonin and Manuel Frigo finished third, more than three tenths of a second further back.
The victory - the United States' first gold medal at Paris 2024 - marked the eighth Olympic title of Dressel's career.
"I know that last 50 [meters], I just wanted to win a gold medal for these guys," said Dressel, who swam the last leg to thunderous applause at the Paris La Defense Arena.
"I've had my moments in the sport. It's time for these guys to have them. It's really special. That's what we came here to do," the 27 year-old added.
Armstrong praised his teammates, each of whom he said had contributed equally.
"I've always been one for relays, but every person on this team, we all have our job to do and we each did our job," he said. "That's how magical things happen." ■
