Caeleb Dressel anchors USA 4x100 relay team at Paris Olympics, wins 8th gold

Former Florida Gator Caeleb Dressel won another gold medal on Saturday as the United States dominated the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Dressel anchored the race, swimming the fourth and final leg for his country. He began his lap with a two-second lead thanks to a 46.75-second third leg from Hunter Armstrong. Dressel gave up some time to the Australians and Italy— who won the silver and bronze medals, respectively — but the United States finished at 3:09.28, more than a full second ahead of second place.

“Relays are a little more special to be honest,” Dressel said to the Associated Press. “So doing it with these guys has been awesome. It takes me back to my first gold. It really doesn’t get old. Really special standing on the podium with these guys watching the flag go up. I’m extremely proud of them. It made my job easy.”

It’s Dressel’s eighth gold medal over three Olympics. Five of those have come in relay events, but this is the first since the birth of his five-month-old son August Wilder.

“It’s really special. Making the team in front of him and then winning a gold in front of him, just checking little boxes that I never would have thought to create throughout my career,” Dressel said. “So that was a really special one tonight.”

Dressel will defend his Tokyo Olympic golds in the 100-meter butterfly and 50-meter freestyle over the coming days.

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