Jack Alexy had a breakout summer, winning the national championship in the 100-meter freestyle and capturing five medals at the World Aquatics Championships.
Photo by: Kelley L Cox/KLC fotos
1/17/2024 11:00 AM | Inside The Lair, Men's Swimming & Diving
Jack Alexy Is The Latest Golden Bear Freestyler To Take The National Stage
This feature originally appeared in the 2023-24 Winter edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.
Jack Alexy took center stage for USA Swimming last summer during breakout performances at both the Phillips 66 National Championships and World Aquatics Championships. But what impressed California director of swimming Dave Durden the most had nothing to do with the seven combined medals he captured at the two events.
Alexy won the silver medal in the 100-meter freestyle at Worlds in Fukuoka, Japan, but he almost never got that chance. After swimming the second-fastest time during qualifying, Alexy got off to a disastrous start to his semifinal race to put his status for the finals in jeopardy. He ended up securing the eighth and final spot for the championship race, and then was barely edged out for the gold medal in the finals.
"I thought I blew my shot," said Alexy, who won five medals at Worlds and two more at the Phillips 66 National Championships. "I had a lot of anger and frustration with myself. I was very fortunate."
After winning the national championship in the 100 freestyle and taking second place in the 50 freestyle in June, Alexy looked to be a favorite to reach the podium at Worlds. But he had an uneven start to his semifinal in the 100 freestyle and his hands split apart after hitting the water, a development that can often doom a swimmer for the remainder of a race. Alexy persevered, and after both semifinal races were complete, he had snuck into the finals by two-hundredths of a second.
"How he swam the rest of that race after his hands split apart was 100 percent mature," Durden said. "He kept himself in the moment, and didn't panic. When something like that happens, you have a hundred thoughts running through your head. To be able to stay on process is amazing. Winning silver in the 50 free was great. Being on relay teams was great. But that semifinal swim was probably his quintessential swim where he showed he can handle anything that's thrown at him."
Alexy swam in the first of two semifinals for the 100 freestyle, so he didn't know his fate for the finals until the completion of the second semifinal. He remained on the pool deck to watch the other semifinal and his heart sunk as he watched the field get off to a fast start.
"When the race was halfway over, I thought I was done for because it looked like they were going to go pretty fast," Alexy said. "I honestly couldn't believe it at first. I had to check it a few times. I was very fortunate that I made it into that final."
Not only did Alexy's hands split apart at the beginning of his semifinal race of the 100 freestyle, his body entered the water at an angle, further setting him back. But the singular focus and determination he exhibited to recover from the poor start is emblematic of an approach that has put him on the forefront of American swimming.
"The fastest that you are traveling in any point in a 100-meter race is off the start," Durden said. "Any sort of resistance that you create with your body gets magnified because that's the fastest point that you are traveling. When your arms split, you are creating massive amounts of resistance that slow you down immediately. So you have to create all of your momentum and your velocity through your swimming. He went from flying in mid-air to pretty close to zero, and had to start swimming again. That's a huge challenge."
A day after talking silver in the 100 freestyle at Worlds, Alexy did the same in the 50 freestyle. He also won the gold medal in the 400 medley relay – teaming with fellow Golden Bears Ryan Murphy and Dare Rose in the process – while earning another silver in the 400 mixed freestyle relay (with another Golden Bear, Abbey Weitzeil) and bronze in the 400 freestyle relay.
His silver medal-winning time of 47.31 in the 100 freestyle was the second-fastest ever by an American swimmer.
"My reaction when he got the silver medal in that 100-meter free was, 'Wow, my brother is the second-fastest in the world and second-fastest American ever in this event.' Just thinking about that even now is still kind of crazy," said Alexy's younger brother, Rob, who is a freshman on Cal's men's swimming & diving team. "But it made sense to watch that happen. I thoroughly believe that swimming on top of the water – Jack is the best raw swimmer in the world right now."
Elite, world-class performance is never easy to predict, but Alexy always appeared to at least have that chance. He was ranked as the No. 6 recruit in the country by SwimSwam magazine coming out of the Delbarton School in Morristown, New Jersey, and placed 10th in the 100 freestyle at the 2021 Olympic Trials, shattering an American record for his age group in the process.
But like many student-athletes in many sports, Alexy endured some growing pains during his freshman year at Cal. While the Golden Bears won the NCAA championship, Alexy didn't score individually in either of the sprint freestyle events. He knew he had to do some things differently – and one of those, at the urging of his parents, was to start keeping a daily journal.
"I was just kind of struggling more than usual in managing my school and swim balance. I was getting very overwhelmed and needed to get my thoughts out somewhere," Alexy said. "I just decided to try it, and I just stuck with it. I think it's important for anyone to get those thoughts out of your head."
Alexy is the latest in a long list of elite sprint freestylers from Cal, including Olympic stars Matt Biondi, Anthony Ervin, Nathan Adrian and more. While Alexy has his near-future sights set on helping the Bears capture a third straight NCAA championship, his attention after that will soon turn to the 2024 Olympic Trials in Indianapolis in June with the hope of representing Team USA at the Summer Olympics in Paris in July.
"We are just super proud of his goal-setting and determination," said Alexy's mom, Lynn, who played basketball at Notre Dame. "I think the challenge ahead now is elevating yet again. Everyone is going to be ready for Indianapolis. I'm going to continue to trust him in the process. We will see where that goes and enjoy the ride. Regardless of what happens, I know he will take the experience and grow from that."
Alexy knows there will be expectations about his Olympic prospects after his performance last summer, and he's not afraid to embrace them.
"I'd say I think about the Olympics every day," he said. "I don't think specifically about a race or the meet, but every night before I go to bed what I think about the most is what it takes to become successful and achieve my goals. I write down what I'm going to do and how it's going to happen. There might be a point where I need to not think about it too much because I don't want to be worrying about it. But I want to think about it and have those thoughts become actions, and have those actions help set a standard of excellence that will help me achieve those goals."
Jack Alexy took center stage for USA Swimming last summer during breakout performances at both the Phillips 66 National Championships and World Aquatics Championships. But what impressed California director of swimming Dave Durden the most had nothing to do with the seven combined medals he captured at the two events.
Alexy won the silver medal in the 100-meter freestyle at Worlds in Fukuoka, Japan, but he almost never got that chance. After swimming the second-fastest time during qualifying, Alexy got off to a disastrous start to his semifinal race to put his status for the finals in jeopardy. He ended up securing the eighth and final spot for the championship race, and then was barely edged out for the gold medal in the finals.
"I thought I blew my shot," said Alexy, who won five medals at Worlds and two more at the Phillips 66 National Championships. "I had a lot of anger and frustration with myself. I was very fortunate."
After winning the national championship in the 100 freestyle and taking second place in the 50 freestyle in June, Alexy looked to be a favorite to reach the podium at Worlds. But he had an uneven start to his semifinal in the 100 freestyle and his hands split apart after hitting the water, a development that can often doom a swimmer for the remainder of a race. Alexy persevered, and after both semifinal races were complete, he had snuck into the finals by two-hundredths of a second.
"How he swam the rest of that race after his hands split apart was 100 percent mature," Durden said. "He kept himself in the moment, and didn't panic. When something like that happens, you have a hundred thoughts running through your head. To be able to stay on process is amazing. Winning silver in the 50 free was great. Being on relay teams was great. But that semifinal swim was probably his quintessential swim where he showed he can handle anything that's thrown at him."
Alexy swam in the first of two semifinals for the 100 freestyle, so he didn't know his fate for the finals until the completion of the second semifinal. He remained on the pool deck to watch the other semifinal and his heart sunk as he watched the field get off to a fast start.
"When the race was halfway over, I thought I was done for because it looked like they were going to go pretty fast," Alexy said. "I honestly couldn't believe it at first. I had to check it a few times. I was very fortunate that I made it into that final."
Not only did Alexy's hands split apart at the beginning of his semifinal race of the 100 freestyle, his body entered the water at an angle, further setting him back. But the singular focus and determination he exhibited to recover from the poor start is emblematic of an approach that has put him on the forefront of American swimming.
"The fastest that you are traveling in any point in a 100-meter race is off the start," Durden said. "Any sort of resistance that you create with your body gets magnified because that's the fastest point that you are traveling. When your arms split, you are creating massive amounts of resistance that slow you down immediately. So you have to create all of your momentum and your velocity through your swimming. He went from flying in mid-air to pretty close to zero, and had to start swimming again. That's a huge challenge."
A day after talking silver in the 100 freestyle at Worlds, Alexy did the same in the 50 freestyle. He also won the gold medal in the 400 medley relay – teaming with fellow Golden Bears Ryan Murphy and Dare Rose in the process – while earning another silver in the 400 mixed freestyle relay (with another Golden Bear, Abbey Weitzeil) and bronze in the 400 freestyle relay.
His silver medal-winning time of 47.31 in the 100 freestyle was the second-fastest ever by an American swimmer.
"My reaction when he got the silver medal in that 100-meter free was, 'Wow, my brother is the second-fastest in the world and second-fastest American ever in this event.' Just thinking about that even now is still kind of crazy," said Alexy's younger brother, Rob, who is a freshman on Cal's men's swimming & diving team. "But it made sense to watch that happen. I thoroughly believe that swimming on top of the water – Jack is the best raw swimmer in the world right now."
Elite, world-class performance is never easy to predict, but Alexy always appeared to at least have that chance. He was ranked as the No. 6 recruit in the country by SwimSwam magazine coming out of the Delbarton School in Morristown, New Jersey, and placed 10th in the 100 freestyle at the 2021 Olympic Trials, shattering an American record for his age group in the process.
But like many student-athletes in many sports, Alexy endured some growing pains during his freshman year at Cal. While the Golden Bears won the NCAA championship, Alexy didn't score individually in either of the sprint freestyle events. He knew he had to do some things differently – and one of those, at the urging of his parents, was to start keeping a daily journal.
"I was just kind of struggling more than usual in managing my school and swim balance. I was getting very overwhelmed and needed to get my thoughts out somewhere," Alexy said. "I just decided to try it, and I just stuck with it. I think it's important for anyone to get those thoughts out of your head."
Alexy is the latest in a long list of elite sprint freestylers from Cal, including Olympic stars Matt Biondi, Anthony Ervin, Nathan Adrian and more. While Alexy has his near-future sights set on helping the Bears capture a third straight NCAA championship, his attention after that will soon turn to the 2024 Olympic Trials in Indianapolis in June with the hope of representing Team USA at the Summer Olympics in Paris in July.
"We are just super proud of his goal-setting and determination," said Alexy's mom, Lynn, who played basketball at Notre Dame. "I think the challenge ahead now is elevating yet again. Everyone is going to be ready for Indianapolis. I'm going to continue to trust him in the process. We will see where that goes and enjoy the ride. Regardless of what happens, I know he will take the experience and grow from that."
Alexy knows there will be expectations about his Olympic prospects after his performance last summer, and he's not afraid to embrace them.
"I'd say I think about the Olympics every day," he said. "I don't think specifically about a race or the meet, but every night before I go to bed what I think about the most is what it takes to become successful and achieve my goals. I write down what I'm going to do and how it's going to happen. There might be a point where I need to not think about it too much because I don't want to be worrying about it. But I want to think about it and have those thoughts become actions, and have those actions help set a standard of excellence that will help me achieve those goals."
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