Four Hoosiers entered the waters in the opening days of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Former Hoosier All-Americans Zach Apple and Blake Pieroni secured gold for the United States in the 400m Freestyle Relay on Sunday night, while Lilly King punched her ticket into the final of the 100m Breaststroke.
The Hoosiers have now won 57 gold medals at the Olympics. IU athletes have also produced 17 silvers and 32 bronze medals.
MEN’S 400m FREESTYLE RELAY
The United States dominated the field in the 400m Freestyle Relay with a gold medal-winning time of 3:08.97. Caeleb Dressel opened the race for the US with a split of 47.26 before giving way to Blake Pieroni. He used a massive back half to hold onto the American lead with a split of 47.58. Bowe Becker was third in the water for the US. He opened a 0.23 second lead with a 47.44 split. Finally, Zach Apple carried the team home with a dominant anchor leg at 46.69 to claim gold for the United States.
The time marked the fastest time swam in the event since the US won gold in the Olympic Games 2008 Beijing. The Americans (3:08.24) bested the French (3:08.32) by only 0.08 seconds in the ’08 race.
The gold is the 10th (out of 13 games) in the event for the US and the second in as many Olympic Games. The race marked the first time since 1972 (John Murphy and Mark Spitz) in which a pair of Hoosiers teamed up to win gold at the Olympics in the event. Pieroni (2016, 20) joins Spitz (1968, 72) as the only Hoosiers to repeat as Olympic champions in the event in back-to-back games.
WOMEN’S 100m BREASTSTROKE
Defending Olympic champion Lilly King will be seeded second in Monday night’s final of the women’s 100m Breaststroke after finishing second overall in the semifinals of the event with a time of 1:05.40.
If she is able to repeat her gold medal effort from the Rio games, King will have to defeat Tatjana Schoenmaker (South Africa), a feat she has not been able to accomplish through two sessions of the event today.
King and Schoenmaker will be joined by Lydia Jacoby (United States), Sophie Hansson (Sweeden), Yuliya Efimova (Russia), Evgeniia Chikunova (Russia), Martina Carraro (Italy), and Mona McSharry (Ireland) in a race for gold on Monday night.
MEN’S 400m FREESTYLE
Former Hoosier Marwan Elkamash kicked off the swimming events in the Olympics for Indiana in the heats of the men’s 400m Freestyle. He narrowly missed a spot in the semifinals after placing 14th in the event with a time of 3:46.94 while representing Team Egypt on Saturday morning.
FINAL RESULTS
WOMEN’S 100m BREASTSTROKE
- Lilly King – 1:05.40*
MEN’S 400m FREESTYLE
- Marwan Elkamash – 3:46.94 (Saturday morning)
MEN’S 400m FREESTYLE RELAY
- Caeleb Dressel, Blake Pieroni, Bowe Becker, Zach Apple – 3:08.97 (GOLD)
*Advanced to Final
The Hoosiers will next be represented by heats of the women’s 200m IM on Monday morning at 6:54 a.m. ET with former Hoosier Bailey Andison. King will race for gold at 10:17 p.m. ET in the final of the women’s 100m Breaststroke later in the evening.
