Jack Alexy taking over the duty as the very best sprinter within the United States

At the 2022 World Championships, the Americans received the 4x100m freestyle relay with a mean age of simply 24. But on the ultimate night time, within the 4x100m medley, they had been handed a uncommon defeat by a resurgent Italian workforce — that lineup averaged practically 26. For the U.S. to stay dominant at future Worlds and Olympics, a brand new star wanted to rise.

Enter Jack Alexy, who now at age 22 has the expertise and pedigree to be that man the United States wants on relays.

Training on the similar pool with the identical coach that Olympic champion Nathan Adrian had throughout his profession, Alexy was the star of a brand new era of males’s sprinters within the United States. Caeleb Dressel led the workforce within the wake of Adrian from 2017 – 2022, however took an prolonged break after the 2022 Worlds and lots of questioned if he’d ever come again. Without Dressel, the United States wanted to seek out its subsequent man within the 50m and 100m freestyle, in addition to the 2 dash relays.

Three years later, Alexy got here house with a silver within the 100m freestyle and a bronze within the 50m on the latest World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. In the 100m, he broke Dressel’s American report with a 46.81 within the semis, en path to a 46.92 within the last, sooner than what Dressel ever completed in his already storied profession.

His most notable achievement of the World Championships got here on the ultimate night time within the 4x100m medley relay. Alexy’s 45.95 on the tip to safe bronze was the quickest anybody had ever been on a relay apart from Pan Zhanle’s 45.92 in the identical relay final yr on the Olympics.

The swim got here on the finish of a protracted week of discussions across the American workforce’s battle with acute gastroenteritis within the lead-up to the meet, in addition to questions surrounding whether or not the boys’s medley relay for the Americans may even make the ultimate, not to mention the rostrum. After lacking the ultimate within the combined medley relay earlier within the week, many American followers had been nervous about the potential of a repeat within the males’s occasion.

With a world rookie on the lead-off in Tommy Janton, adopted by Josh Matheny, who scratched the 200m breaststroke as a consequence of sickness, and Dare Rose, who didn’t even swim the 100m butterfly on the meet, the workforce was in fourth at 300 meters and a second and a half away from a medal. Alexy seemingly put the workforce on his again to get the Americans the bronze at 3:28.62, beating an Italian workforce with two silver medalists from the week on the entrance finish at 3:28.72.

Janton, Matheny, and Rose swam what they wanted to do, however Alexy swam out of his pores and skin to get the bronze.

“A lot of people have been doubting this relay specifically and I’m really proud of these guys for getting the job done and getting on the podium,” Alexy mentioned in closing the workforce’s combined zone interview in Singapore.

“He’s just had an incredible week and an incredible couple of years,” Matheny mentioned of watching Alexy swim. “(He) and I have been swimming for the national team since Budapest Junior Worlds and watching him climb the ranks as well, and just become America’s premiere sprinter. It’s just an honour to be there every step of the way and to be his friend while he just throws down splits that you would not believe. I know the three of us have unbelievable confidence that when he gets in the water, as long as he sniffs them, you can get them.”

Swimming is likely one of the few distinctive sports activities that doesn’t require a defensive technique in preparation. It’s simply you and the clock. Racing is part of the preparation, however the clock is what dictates the end result of the race. For Alexy, his 2023 breakout was adopted by an expectation that he’d be “the guy” for the US within the 100m freestyle on the 2024 Olympics.

After swimming 47.08 within the heats of the Olympic Trials and ending second within the last to Chris Guiliano, he was one of many gold medal favorites for one of many marquee occasions of the swimming programme.

On the primary night time, he received the primary gold for the United States on the Games on the 4x100m freestyle relay, main off in 47.6. In the heats of the 100m freestyle, he was the highest seed at 47.5, however within the last, he couldn’t rise to the second, falling to seventh at 47.96, his slowest of his 5 100m freestyles of the whole week.

“I had this expectation in my mind of this ‘magic number’ and at the time it was 46.8 and that was what I should be able to go and need to go in order to win the Olympics,” Alexy instructed World Aquatics earlier than the World Championships. “I was putting tremendous amounts of pressure on myself during practice when I was supposed to be hitting my splits but also outside of practice. I was just thinking about it way too much and couldn’t find a balance between training and racing and just having a normal life.”

Coming again to his house in Berkeley, California within the fall, he made a shift in how he approached coaching. Physically, he was ready to swim quick on the Olympics, however mentally, he wasn’t.

“This year I have been able to separate training and my lifestyle a lot better and been able to focus on one aspect of my life at each time and realize that swimming is not the only thing I need to be focusing on,” Alexy mentioned, who just lately graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in May. “That helps offset the nerves and pressure going into big meets. In the days leading up to and on race day, I had this goal time in my mind. It is helpful to have that during regular training but you also don’t want to be too consumed with that. I’ve done those races my whole life and was trying to go back to what I had been used to doing and love what I’m doing.”

In June on the Trials for the World Championships in Indianapolis, Alexy grew to become simply the second American man to swim the 100m freestyle inside 47 seconds when he did it within the heats.

“That was pretty cool. There’s only a handful of guys that have touched that number. It’s pretty cool to be in the conversation with those guys. I wasn’t expecting that time at all during prelims,” Alexy mentioned.

Just a few weeks later in Singapore, Alexy lowered his time all the way down to 46.8 within the semis of the 100m freestyle, and a showdown with 200m Olympic champ and former 100m world report holder David Popovici awaited within the last. It took 47.64 to advance to the ultimate of the 100m freestyle and with out the Olympic champion Pan Zhanle within the subject, it was extensive open with Popovici and Alexy serving because the frontrunners alongside the most effective racers of all-time in Australia’s Kyle Chalmers.

“I was talking to David before the (final) race in the call room and the last thing he said to me was, ‘let’s put on a show.’ So I think we definitely put on a show.”

Popovici received the ultimate within the second quickest time ever at 46.51. Alexy received silver at 46.92 and Chalmers the bronze at 47.17.

Going from heats to semis to the ultimate and delivering in spherical three had been a battle previously for Alexy, who credited his psychological shift in delivering a silver medal within the last.

“I think the biggest change in the mental process and the hours and the days leading up to the race, just trying to focus on why I love the sport and just look back on how far I’ve come, rather than trying to focus on putting pressure on myself about, okay, ‘I need to go this time.’ So I think it’s just really letting me swim free and just have fun in the sport that I’ve always loved.”

In the 50m freestyle, Alexy once more discovered himself on the rostrum with bronze at 21.46. Again, he went sooner within the semis, however he nonetheless received himself a medal behind two of the very best to ever cross one size of the pool – Cameron McEvoy and Ben Proud.

All in all, Alexy had ten swims within the pool in Singapore, and got here out with a medal in each single occasion he competed in throughout the eight-day programme.

The World Aquatics Championships presents a problem for any athlete, not to mention these that may race as much as ten occasions throughout the week. The up and down feelings of each swim all through the week could be emotionally draining, and should you’re not ready, it may be detrimental.

Learning from these earlier than him like Ryan Murphy, Caeleb Dressel, and Abbey Weitzeil, Alexy realized easy methods to take one race at a time and never dwell an excessive amount of on the great or unhealthy swims.

“Meets like this when it’s eight days long and I have a busy schedule ahead of me, it’s pretty easy to get ahead of myself and think ‘wow I have eight, nine swims ahead of me. I need to get this done,’” Alexy mentioned earlier than the meet. “That’s not a great way to go about it and also you’d get overwhelmed once you do this.

“It takes some practice and reps of doing that but it’s helpful because there’s a lot of more experienced people on Team USA I can look up to and ask questions and they’ve provided me with a lot of advice on how to handle a big workload like I have.”

There was increased optimism for the United States workforce within the lead-up to the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. After a disappointing exhibiting within the Paris Olympics that noticed the workforce win two gold medals on the boys’s facet – one particular person occasion and only one relay, together with its first ever loss within the medley relay on the ultimate night time, the workforce was slated for an enormous exhibiting in Singapore within the first worldwide meet forward of a house Olympics in 2028.

Alexy was main that cost, main the world rankings within the 100m freestyle earlier than Popovici overtook him in late June. Luca Urlando was wanting like the person he was promised to be in his stellar junior profession as he led the 200m butterfly world rankings. Luke Hobson was swimming higher than ever and was set to go toe to toe with Popovici within the 200m freestyle the place a 1:42 didn’t look inconceivable. The workforce nonetheless had Bobby Finke, who received the one particular person gold within the 1500m freestyle in 2024, and the duo of Shaine Casas and Carson Foster, who sat first and second on the earth within the 200m IM. Rex Maurer was a promising upstart within the 400m freestyle and 400m IM, whereas the freestyle depth proven on the US Trials in June regarded promising for a freestyle relay sweep on the World Championships.

“There’s not much talk about what happened last year,” Alexy mentioned on this interview within the early days of the Thailand coaching camp. “I don’t think there’s any benefit to dwell on the past and this is coming from me personally and from what I’ve heard from my teammates here and the coaches here. We are focused right now on our training and preparation for Singapore and performance and realize that this is the first international showcase heading into the LA 2028 quad.”

Everything appeared to be going properly. Until it didn’t.

Much had been mentioned concerning the team’s battle with acute gastroenteritis, an irritation of the intestines that results in vomiting and diarrhea. Although it’s unclear which athletes had been affected, it’s arduous to disregard the affect the sickness had on the workforce as a complete.

The US males received no relays and just one particular person gold with Urlando’s 200m butterfly. But the outcomes are nonetheless promising – Alexy’s 45 cut up and particular person silver within the 100m converse for a dependable pressure on relays and particular person occasions. Casas’s 1:54 within the 200m IM was a serious breakthrough, as was Hobson’s silver within the 200m freestyle.

The relay performances, nonetheless, show to be an excessive amount of for American followers hoping to see their workforce on high. The workforce was run down by Australia within the 4x100m freestyle on the boys’s and ladies’s sides, and missed the rostrum totally within the males’s 4x200m. Both medley relays made the rostrum, together with a world report from the ladies, however the combined medley didn’t advance previous the heats.

There was criticism, the loudest being from two of the best to ever placed on swim caps – Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

The American workforce was damage by the criticism, even when it wasn’t meant to be directed on the athletes. Alexy shouldered loads of it when requested about it within the ending days of the meet.

“There undoubtedly is loads of strain on USA swimmers, as a result of previously many years, there have been legends in our sport which have paved the way in which for us,” Alexy mentioned after a world report setting combined 4x100m freestyle. “It is a privilege to be on this place, and we’re very grateful. I feel lots of people, loads of swim followers, love the game, and typically they’re actually important, typically they’re actually supportive. So I feel that is simply sports activities followers on the whole. I do not assume it is private in any respect.

What comes out of the 2025 calendar yr for the United States swim workforce stays to be seen, however the US has the items to be nice sooner or later. Alexy has confirmed that and is motivated by 2025.

“The USA has a high standard of reach, and when we are considered not at that highest standard 100% of the time, we can definitely take some criticism for it,” Alexy mentioned after the combined free relay. “It’s undoubtedly gas to the hearth for the following couple years. And the theme going into this meet was setting off the tone proper for LA 2028. So I feel we’re persevering with to do a greater job at that, particularly after tonight, and I’m actually excited for the long run.”