Olympics swimming Day 1 results: USA wins first 2024 Olympics gold with men's 4x100m freestyle relay victory

Bryan Murphy

Olympics swimming Day 1 results: USA wins first 2024 Olympics gold with men's 4x100m freestyle relay victory image

Team USA has its first gold medal in Paris. 

The red, white and blue earned a first-place finish in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay Saturday at La Defense Arena, ending Day 1 of the swimming schedule on a high note. The quartet of  Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Caeleb Dressel beat out Australia and Italy to win the gold medal. 

Alexey was in second when Guiliano took over for his leg. He pulled away of the pack before Armstrong and Dressel anchored the relay team to a victory. 

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It was the second of three medals won in the pool Saturday for the United States. Katie Ledecky added a bronze medal to her extensive resume with a third-place finish in the women's 400m freestyle. Australia's Ariarne Titmus finished first, while Canada's Summer McIntosh came in second. 

In addition, Team USA earned a silver in the women's 4x100m relay. The quartet of Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel was unable to beat Australia's group of Mollie O'Callaghan, Shayne Jack, Emma McKoen and Meg Harris, who set a new Olympic record with a time of 3:28.92 to take gold. 

The Sporting News tracked all the latest updates, highlights and results from Day 1 of the Olympic swimming events at the 2024 Olympics.

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Olympics swimming results

Saturday, July 27

Time (ET)EventWinner2nd3rd
2:30 p.m.Women's 100 Butterfly (Semifinals)Gretchen Walsh (USA) — 55.38Torri Huske (USA) — 56.00Zang Yufei (China) — 56.15
2:42 p.m.Men's 400 Freestyle (Finals)Lukas Maertens (Germany) — 3:41.78Elijah Winnington (Australia) — 3:42.21Kim Woomin (South Korea) — 3:42.50
2:52 p.m.Women's 400 Freestyle (Finals)Ariarne Titmus (Australia) — 3:57.49Summer McIntosh (Canada) — 3:58.37Katie Ledecky (USA) — 4:00.86
3:13 p.m.Men's 100 Breaststroke (Semifinals)Adam Peaty (Great Britain) — 58.86Qin Haiyang (China) — 58.93Arno Kamminga (Netherlands) — 59.12
3:34 p.m.Women's 4x100 Freestyle Relay (Finals)Australia — 3:28.22USA — 3:30.20China — 3:30.30
3:44 p.m.Men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay (Finals)USA —3:09.28Australia — 3:10.35Italy — 3:10.70

Live swimming updates, highlights from Day 1 at 2024 Olympics

(All times Eastern)

3:57 p.m.: The USA has its first gold medal in Paris. The quarter of Alexy, Guilinao, Armstrong and Dressel outpace the field to win the men's 4x100m freestyle relay. Giuliano took the lead on the second leg and the team did not look back. Australia takes the silver while Italy claims bronze. 

3:52 p.m.: The final event of Day 1 for swimming is the men's 4x100 freestyle. For the United States, it's the foursome of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Caeleb Dressel swimming in the race. 

3:47 p.m.: Australia takes gold in the women's 4x100 freestyle relay. The quartet of Mollie O'Callaghan, Shayne Jack, Emma McKoen and Meg Harris set a new Olympic record with a time of 3:28.92. The United States finish second thanks to a strong effort by Manuel on the final lap to fend off the Chinese attempt. USA clocks in at 3:30.20, while China finishes at 3:30.30. 

3:36 p.m.: Up next is the women's 4x100 freestyle relay. For the United States, it's the quartet of Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel looking to knock off Australia for the gold. 

3:26: p.m.: Adam Peaty is still the man to beat in the men's 100m breaststroke. The Brit finishes with the best time in the two semifinals at the event, racing in 58.86 seconds. 

3:04: p.m.: The women's 400m freestyle is still Ariarne Titmus' race. The Australian defends her gold medal by beating McIntosh and Ledecky with a time of 3:57.49. McIntosh earned silver with a time of 3:48.37, while Ledecky finished more than three seconds behind the gold medal winner, with a time of 4:00.86. 

2:54: p.m.: Up next is the highly-anticipated women's 400m freestyle. The race features Katie Ledecky, Ariarne Titmus and Summer McIntosh, three of the best swimmers in Paris. 

2:49: p.m.: It's a gold medal for Germany's Lukas Maertens. The German swimmer narrowly missed out on a world record, but his time of 3:41.78 was enough to beat Australia's Elijah Winnington. The Aussie took silver at 3:44.21, while South Korea's Kim Woomin earned bronze. 

2:38: p.m.: Gretchen Walsh is one of the favorites to win the 100m butterfly gold, and she shoed why in the semifinals. The USA star set a new Olympic record with her time of 55.38 in the first semifinal of the event. 

2 p.m.: The pool is about to heat up in Paris. La Defense Arena is the site for a set of four finals ad two semifinals today, starting in the next alf an hour.

11:30 a.m.: Talk about anticipation. The women's 400m freestyle final is set for later this afternoon, and even media members need a ticket to get in. 

10:34 a.m.: Katie Ledecky is going for gold. The American swim sensation secures the best time for the 400m freestyle and a spot in the finals, swimming the race in 4:02.19. She will go for gold at 2:52 p.m. this afternoon. 

10:17 a.m.: In the men's 400m freestyle, Aaron Shackell brought his A-game Saturday morning. The Team USA swimmer put up a personal best in the heats of the men'd 400-m event. 

10 a.m.: The United States did not jus secure their spot in the women's 4x100 freestyle relay — they dominated. Team USA easily won first place thanks to the joint effort from Abbey Weitzeil (53.60), Simone Manuel (53.23), Erika Connolly (53.83), and Kate Douglass (52.63). 

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Olympics swimming schedule 2024

With the exception of Aug. 4, each day will begin with heats starting at 5 a.m. ET and will end with semifinals and finals races starting up at 2:30 p.m. ET. The USA Network will carry the heats in the United States and NBC will have the finals, while CBC will provide coverage of both events in Canada. 

Those in the United States hoping to see replays of the qualifying heats can tune into NBC every afternoon to see how swimmers performed earlier in the morning. 

Saturday, July 27

EventTime (ET)Channel (U.S.)Channel (Canada)
Heats5 a.m.USACBC
Finals2:30 p.m.NBCCBC

Sunday, July 28

EventTime (ET)Channel (U.S.)Channel (Canada)
Heats5 a.m.USACBC
Finals2:30 p.m.NBCCBC

Monday, July 29

EventTime (ET)Channel (U.S.)Channel (Canada)
Heats5 a.m.USACBC
Finals2:30 p.m.NBCCBC

Tuesday, July 30

EventTime (ET)Channel (U.S.)Channel (Canada)
Heats5 a.m.USACBC
Finals2:30 p.m.NBCCBC

Wednesday, July 31

EventTime (ET)Channel (U.S.)Channel (Canada)
Heats5 a.m.USACBC
Finals2:30 p.m.NBCCBC

Thursday, Aug. 1

EventTime (ET)Channel (U.S.)Channel (Canada)
Heats5 a.m.USACBC
Finals2:30 p.m.NBCCBC

Friday, Aug. 2

EventTime (ET)Channel (U.S.)Channel (Canada)
Heats5 a.m.USACBC
Finals2:30 p.m.NBCCBC

Saturday, Aug. 3

EventTime (ET)Channel (U.S.)Channel (Canada)
Heats5 a.m. USACBC
Finals2:30 p.m.NBCCBC

Sunday, Aug. 4

EventTime (ET)Channel (U.S.)Channel (Canada)
Finals12:30 p.m.NBCCBC

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Bryan Murphy

Bryan Murphy Photo

Bryan Murphy joined The Sporting News in 2022 as the NHL/Canada content producer. Previously he worked for NBC Sports on their national news desk reporting on breaking news for the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, in addition to covering the 2020 and 2022 Olympic Games. A graduate of Quinnipiac University, he spent time in college as a beat reporter covering the men’s ice hockey team.