GWANGJU, South Korea – California kicked off the 18th FINA World Championships Sunday with a pair of Golden Bears capturing relay medals for the United States. Nathan Adrian anchored the men's 400-meter free relay to gold, while Abbey Weitzeil swam a leg on the women's silver-medal-winning 400 free relay.
 
Adrian, just months removed from announcing that he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, covered his 100-meter split in 47.08 as the Americans led wire-to-wire and finished in a meet-record 3:09.06. Caeleb Dressel led off, and he was followed by Blake Pieroni and Zach Apple, allowing Adrian to bring it home for his 14th career World Championships medal.
 
"It's not anything anyone's prepared to deal with – sitting down with a doctor and learning you have cancer," Adrian told USA Swimming. "Fortunately, mine was treated with just surgery. The good thing is swimming brings me back to home base. Being on the block with three excellent, excellent swimmers that threw down great legs for me, getting me in the spot that I was – that's home. That brings me away from the cancer stuff. That brings me away from the anxiety that this might come back at any time, so that was huge for me."
 
In the women's relay, Weitzeil, who will be a senior for the Golden Bears in the fall, handled the second leg and gave the United States a narrow lead with a 52.66 split. Mallory Comerford, Kelsi Dahlia and Simone Manuel handled the other three legs and touched in 3:31.02 to set an American record. Australia won the race in a meet-record 3:30.21.
 
In addition to Nathan and Weitzeil, recent graduate Katie McLaughlin swam in the 100-meter butterfly. She qualified out of morning heats for the evening semifinals but finished an agonizing ninth to just miss a spot in the final. Still, McLaughlin's time of 57.23 was a personal best and moved her up to the fourth fastest performer in the event in U.S. history.
 
A total of 14 Golden Bears, both current students and alumni – including eight for the U.S. team – are swimming at the World Championships. The U.S. men's team is led by Cal head coach David Durden, while Cal women's head coach Teri McKeever is serving as an assistant for the women's squad.
 
The FINA World Championships run through July 28 at the Nambu International Aquatics Center. Follow CalBears.com, and @CalMenSwim and @CalWSwim social media accounts for updates on the Bears throughout the meet. Additional coverage is available at:

• TV/Webcast Schedule
• Results
• FINA.org