Chris Guiliano is an Olympic gold medalist.
The rising Irish senior swam the second leg of the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay on Saturday evening at Paris La Défense Arena and finished with the first gold medal for Team USA in Paris. The Americans were the favorite on paper despite finishing fourth in the preliminary heats. The group of Jack Alexy, Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Caeleb Dressel blew the field away and finished in 3:09.28, just over a second off of the world record.
Guiliano grabbed the lead for Team USA with a split of 47.33 after a quick reaction time of 0.11, which was the fastest of the four Americans.
The Pennsylvania native has at least four events remaining in Paris: 50, 100 and 200 free plus the 4×200 free relay. Up next, he has the 200 free heats on Sunday morning at 5 a.m. ET.
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