Cal Sports Report

Jack Alexy, Hunter Armstrong Win Swimming Gold Medals

The two Cal-affiliated swimmers were part of the victorious U.S. 4x100 freestyle relay team . Abbey Weitzeil wins silver

Jake Curtis

Jack Alexy (left), Caeleb Dressel and Hunter Armstrong (right)
Jack Alexy (left), Caeleb Dressel and Hunter Armstrong (right) / Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY
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Cal-affiliated swimmers Jack Alexy and Hunter Armstrong won gold medals on Saturday as part of the United States’ dominating victory in the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay in Paris. It is the United States' first gold medal in the 2024 Olympics.

The U.S. foursome finished in a time of 3:09.28, which was 1.07 seconds ahead of second-place Australia., Italy was third.

Alexy, a current student at Cal, swam the leadoff leg for the Americans, and swam his 100 in 47.67 seconds, putting the U.S. second behind China. Chris Guiliano swam the second leg and put the Americans slightly ahead at the halfway point.

The United States took command in the third leg of Armstrong, a member of Cal’s postgraduate training group.  He finished his 100 meters in 46.75 seconds, the fastest of the four American swimmers and the second-fastest of any swimmer in the event.  That gave the U.S. a huge lead heading into the anchor lap manned by Caeleb Dressel, who eased home in a time of 47.53, well ahead of the Australians.

Alexy is competing in his first Olympics.  This is the second Olympics for Armstrong, who won a relay gold in the previous Olympics. He attended West Virginia and Ohio State before joining the Cal postgrad swimming group to prepare for these Olympics.

Abbey Weitzeil, USA: Weitzeil won a silver medal in the women’s 4x100 freestyle relay even though she did not swim in the finals Saturday.  Earlier in the day, the 27-year-old Weitzell swam the leadoff leg in the U.S. women’s 4x100 freestyle relay that easily won its first-round heat with a time of 3:33.29. Weitzeil clocked 53.60 for her split before Simone Manuel, Erika Connolly and Kate Douglass completed a nearly three-second victory over runner-up Great Britain.

Douglass, Manuel, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske swam in the finals for the Americans, who finished in a time of 3:30.20, 1.28 seconds behind the winning Australian team and just one-10th of a second ahead of third-place China.

A 2020 graduate of Cal, Weitzeil is competing in her third Olympics, having won four relay medals in 2016 and 2020.

Aaron Shackell, USA: Shackell, who spent his freshman year at Cal before transferring to Texas, reached the finals of the men's 400-meter freestyle, but finished eighth in the final in a time of  3:47.0. Lukas Maertens of Germany won the gold medal in that event in a time of 3:41.78. Shackell had finished third in his heat earlier Saturday to qualify for the finals.

Robin Hanson and Bjoern, Sweden: Current Cal student Robin Hanson and Bjoern Seeliger, who recently completed his senior season at Cal, both swam for Sweden in the 4x100 freestyle relay team that timed 3:15.37 and finished seventh in the same heat as the Americans. The Swedes did not advance.

Lucas Henveaux, Belgium: A 2023 Cal graduate student swimming for Belgium, Henveaux finished seventh in the same heat of the 400 freestyle and did not advance to the finals.

Mary-Ambre Moluh, France: An incoming Cal freshman, Moluh swam on the French prelim and final swims in the 4x100m free relay. She helped France claim sixth place overall at 3:34.99.

Camille Cheng and Stephanie Au, Hong Kong: The two former Cal swimmers competed on Hong Kong’s 4x100m freestyle relay heat and had legs of 55.12 seconds and 55.38 seconds. Hong Kong finished 15th overall in the event with a time of 3:42.42.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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