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PARIS — The United States captured its first gold medal of the Paris Olympics on Saturday with a victory in the men's 4-by-100 freestyle relay final.

The race pitted the U.S. against a powerhouse Australian foursome that took silver, while
Italy settled for bronze.

The Americans, led by veteran Caeleb Dressel, finished more than a second ahead of the Australians.

This marked Dressel's eighth gold medal.

The U.S. team was rounded out by Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano and Hunter Armstrong.

There had been speculation this American team might beat the world record set by Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak in 2008. That didn't happen.

U.S. women swimmers take silver in relay final

The victory for the U.S. came as part of a long-running rivalry between the U.S. and Australia that was at a fever pitch on Saturday.

Australia won gold in the women's 4-by-100 relay, a race where the U.S. captured silver.

In that race, the U.S. women set a new American record.

"It was a goal of ours to break the American record and get as close to the Australians as we could, and so we're really happy with that performance," said U.S. swimmer Simone Manuel.

Earlier at La Defense Arena in Paris, Australian Ariarne Titmus took gold in a dominant performance in the 400 meter freestyle race.

Katie Ledecky of the U.S. took bronze behind Canada's Summer McIntosh's silver medal finish.

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