"I will give my body and soul for these boys" - Hunter Armstrong on swimming USA's fastest split in relay win at Paris Olympics 2024

By Neelabhra Roy

Modified Jul 30, 2024 05:42 GMT

Hunter Armstrong spoke on swimming Team USA's fastest split in their 4x100m relay final at the Paris Olympics. The 23-year-old clocked 46.75 seconds as the Americans won their first gold at the ongoing edition of the quadrennial event.

The United States clocked a total time of 3:09.28, with Chris Guiliano clocking 47.33 seconds and Caeleb Dressel clocking 47.53 seconds. Jack Alexy took 47.67 seconds to finish his split. The Americans finished ahead of Australia and Italy, who claimed silver and bronze.

Speaking after the win, Armstrong said that he did not expect to swim his team's fastest split in the final and that he just wanted to give his "body and soul" for his teammates.

"I definitely didn't expect it. I just went in thinking I will give my body and soul for these boys, and I knew I had to give Caeleb everything I had. I'm glad I was able to get my job done"

Hunter Armstrong also swam Team USA's fastest split during the heats, clocking 47.50 seconds. This is Armstrong's second Olympic medal, having previously been a part of the team that won gold in the 4x100m medley relay after clocking a world-record time of 3:26.78. However, he did not swim in the final, where Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Murphy, Michael Andrew and Zach Apple were in action.

Apart from his Olympic success, Hunter Armstrong has eight World Championship gold medals to his name

Hunter Armstrong (C) celebrates with his teammates (Source: Getty)

Hunter Armstrong has had a pretty successful Olympic career, with two golds to his name. Besides this, he has also attained eight gold medals at the World Championships, most of them in short course.

Six of these came in team events, while two came in individual ones. Armstrong's first individual world championship medal came in 2023 in Fukuoka, when he won the 50m backstroke competition, defeating compatriot Justin Ress and Xu Jiayu, among others.

The American also won the 100-meter backstroke event at the World Championships in Doha earlier this year, prevailing over Hugo Gonzalez and Apostolos Christou. In the same tournament, he also won another five medals, two golds and three bronzes.