FLEMING ISLAND - Clay High grad Caeleb Dressel returned to the Olympic podium in Paris with his eighth gold medal after the USA Mens 4 x 100 relay team held off Australia to earn the first gold medal of the United States of the Paris Olympics.
The United States beat Australia with a three-minute, 9.28-second finish with Australia second in 3:10.35, about a second away. The Olympic and world record, set in 2008 by the United States, by Michael Phelps, Cullen Jones, Garrett Weber-Gale and Jason Lezak, is still 3:08.24.
Italy, third in 3:10.70, made the race even more intriguing with a 47.06 anchor leg from Manuel Frigo. Italy also got a sub-48-second split on their second leg with Thomas Ceccon clocking a 47.44.
Dressel, who swam the anchor leg against a hard-charging Kyle Chalmers of Australia, who outsplit Dressel with a 46.59 split to Dressel's 47.53, benefited from a scintillating third leg by Hunter Armstrong, who had the second fastest leg to Chalmers of all the swimmers with a 46.75.
For the American team, with Jack Alexy swimming lead off with a 47.67 split, well off his Olympic Trials second place 100 freestyle time of 47.08 seconds, it was Chris Guliano blasting a 47.33 time on the second leg to give Hunter Armstrong the baton for the third leg. Guliano also swam a faster split at the Olympic Trials, 47.25, as the Americans were in jeopardy of giving the Australians space to keep the race close.
Armstrong, the newest of the four-man crew, took control of the event with his 46.75 split, but Australia's Kai Taylor made it close with a 47.73 split that gave Dressel about a half body length on Chalmers as the two dove for the anchor legs.
As the Paris crowd erupted with the possibility of another Dressel vs. Chalmers showdown, Chalmers employed a slightly different tactic in his first length of the pool by outsplitting Dressel at both the start (.26 to .27 off the blocks) and at the turn wall (22.13 to 22.39).
Dressel known for his power off the wall and underwater prowess maintained his gap off the wall and even extended a bit, but Chalmers was churning and slowly inching up on Dressel.
In the final 20 meters, where Dressel is also known for not breathing to the wall, the two were shoulder to shoulder to the wall with Dressel's 6'-6" reach out-touching the Australian, much like Dressel's 100 free gold medal in Tokyo over Chalmers in 2020.
For the American team, Alexy held the second fastest leadoff swim with China world record 100 free record hold Pan Zhanie first to the wall in 46.92 on his leadoff leg; Alexy second with a 47.67.
From there, Guliano and Armstrong both delivered the best splits on their legs; Guliano outsplitting Ceccon (12th in Tokyo), Armstrong outsplitting Kai Taylor of Australia's 47.73 by just under one second to set Dressel's dramatic finish. Dressel's leg was the fourth fastest for the event with Chalmers, Frigo, and Great Britain's Duncan Scott all faster; Scott at 47.52.
Dressel continues his quest for more gold with the 50 free prelims on Thursday (Final on Friday) and the 100 butterfly prelims set for Friday (Final on Saturday). Saturday is the 4 x 100 mixed medley relay.