Team USA is on the board. After not winning a medal in the first 24 hours of the Tokyo Olympics, the United States won its first gold on Saturday night (Sunday morning local time in Tokyo). Unsurprisingly, it came in men's swimming. Chase Kalisz, 27, finished first in the the men's 400-meter individual medley.
Kalisz was in second place until it was time for the breaststroke. That's when he took the lead and never looked back. After staying in first during his freestyle, Kalisz won with a time of 4:09.42.
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Another American, Jay Litherland, took the silver medal while Brendon Smith of Australia finished third.
Here's what the race looked like down the stretch:
We love a good Team USA 1-2! 💪🇺🇸 #TokyoOlympics x @TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/f1uUrFugoB
— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) July 25, 2021
But that's not all American swimmers accomplished on Day 2 of the Games. In total, Team USA took home six swimming medals.
- Kieran Smith won bronze in the men's 400-meter freestyle
- Emma Weyant won silver in the women's 400-meter individual medley
- Hali Flickinger won bronze in the women's 400-meter individual medley
- Team USA won bronze in the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay
This success in the pool all came without America's two most renowned swimmers -- Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel -- even competing. Ledecky will participate in events beginning on Sunday night (Monday morning in local Tokyo time), while Dressel won't swim until Tuesday (Wednesday morning in local Tokyo time.)
