In a stunning performance at the Paris La Défense Arena, Team USA’s men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay team swam to victory, claiming the first gold medal for USA Swimming at the Paris Olympics. After a fourth-place qualifying round, the Americans dazzled in the final on Saturday night, finishing with a time of 3:09.28.

The victorious quartet, comprised of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong, and Caeleb Dressel, fell short of breaking the world record, but their performance was enough to secure gold. Australia took silver, trailing by 1.07 seconds, while Italy claimed bronze with a difference of 1.42 from the USA.

The longstanding world record of 3:08.24, set by Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezak at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, remains intact. Despite predictions from Phelps, Jones, and Lezak that the record would fall in Paris, Team USA’s efforts were just shy of 1.04 seconds of the historic mark.

In the preliminaries, Ryan Held, Matt King, Armstrong, and Dressel posted a time of 3:12.61, qualifying behind China, Australia, and Great Britain. Armstrong’s time of 46.75 seconds was the fastest among the team, and this came as a major improvement on everyone’s behalf in comparison to the qualifiers.

However, this gold is hopefully the first of many, and here is the round-up of all the medals that the USA scored during Day 1.

USA Paris Olympics Day 1 Round-up

Let’s jump into the other silver medal that the USA scored, and this time it was for the Women’s Synchronized 3m Springboard, won by Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook, to kick things off for America. Along with a gold in swimming relays for men, the team won a silver medal in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay. The women’s team fell short and finished in second place, earning silver with Abbey Weitzeil, Simone Manuel, Erika Connolly, Kate Douglass, Torri Huske, and Gretchen Walsh in the team.

It has been tough competition against Australia, who are leading the games, and in the singles swimming women’s 400m freestyle, the USA managed to score a bronze, with Katie Ledecky clocking in a time of 4:00:86. Aside from swimming, cycling was another sport where the USA managed to bag some medals, and that was all thanks to Chloe Dygert, who achieved bronze in the cycling road. It’s been a tough start, and the USA stands third at the conclusion of Day 1.

Currently leading the charts is Australia with 3 golds and 2 silver medals, followed by China, which has won 2 golds and 1 bronze. With the Olympics just summing up day one, do you think the USA will be able to take the lead in medals this year? Let us know your predictions for the event in the comments below.