PARIS – One day, three medals.
 
California hauled in three medals – two gold, one silver – on the first full day of competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was the Golden Bears' American swimmers who brought home the early hardware, as Jack Alexy and Hunter Armstrong won gold in the men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay while Abbey Weitzeil captured silver in the women's 4x100m free relay.
 
A total of 18 Cal Olympians across seven sports were in action Saturday.
 
Field Hockey
Megan Rodgers Valzonis made her Olympic debut as the USA field hockey squad opened group play with a 4-1 loss to Argentina. Valzonis came off the bench and recorded a penalty corner shot in the fourth quarter, but couldn't find the back of the net.
 
Men's Rowing
Martin Mackovic (Serbia) and partner Nikolaj Pimenov were fourth in heat 1 of the men's double sculls, clocking in at 6:17.36. The time was not enough to advance Mackovic through to the semifinal A/B round, though he will return to the water for Repechages at 1:20 a.m. PT Sunday looking to move on.
 
Women's Rowing
Kara Kohler (USA) dominated heat 6 of the women's single sculls, finishing nearly seven seconds ahead of her four competitors with a time of 7:32.46 to earn a spot in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Kohler, a three-time Olympian and bronze medalist in the quadruple sculls at the 2012 London Games, found herself in third place after 500 meters, but pushed her way in front by the 1500-meter mark and ultimately rolled to the heat victory.
 
Inger Kavlie (Norway) placed fourth in heat 3 of the women's double sculls with a time of 7:00.78. Kavlie, paired with Thea Helseth, failed to advance to the semifinal A/B round, but will compete in the Repechage at 1:10 a.m. PT Sunday with another shot to move on.
 
Men's Swimming
Alexy and Armstrong stole the show for Cal's contingent, bringing home gold medals in the 4x100m free relay. Alexy – a first-time Olympian swimming in his first event – swam 47.67 on the leadoff leg to put the Americans in second place. With the USA in front following Chris Guiliano's second leg, it was Hunter Armstrong, a member of Cal's postgraduate training group, who laid down a monster 46.75 split to extend the lead. Armstrong gave way to Caeleb Dressel, who anchored in 47.53 to clinch the gold medal.
 
Armstrong also swam the third leg of the USA's prelim relay, clocking 47.50 to help the Americans finish 3:12.61 overall and take the fourth seed into the final. Cal's Swedish duo of Robin Hanson and Björn Seeliger were also in action during the 4x100m free relay heats, finishing seventh in heat 2 and 15th overall with a time of 3:15.71. Hanson and Seeliger went back-to-back to start Sweden's relay, clocking 49.09 and 48.61, respectively.
 
Lucas Henveaux (Belgium) was the lone Cal men's swimmer competing in an individual event on Saturday, placing 12th overall in the 400m free heats with a time of 3:46.76.
 
Women's Swimming
Abbey Weitzeil earned her fifth career Olympic medal with silver in the 4x100m free relay. Although Weitzeil did not swim on the USA's runner-up 3:30.20 in the final, she swam the leadoff leg in prelims to help the Americans win heat 1 and enter the final as the second seed. Weitzeil, a 2020 Cal grad, three-time Olympian and one of four U.S. captains for the Paris Olympics, clocked 53.60 in her leadoff leg in prelims.
 
Incoming freshman Mary-Ambre Moluh (France) proved why the future remains bright in Berkeley as she swam on the French prelim and final swims in the 4x100m free relay. Moluh split 53.37 on France's third leg in the final, helping the host nation claim sixth place overall at 3:34.99. Her prelim split of 53.49 factored into France's fifth seed.
 
Golden Bear alumni Camille Cheng and Stephanie Au swam on Hong Kong's 4x100m free relay heat and touched the wall in 55.12 and 55.38 on the third and anchor legs, respectively. Hong Kong finished 15th overall in the event with a time of 3:42.42.
 
Women's Water Polo
Kitty Lynn Joustra netted a first-period goal to help Netherlands get off to a hot start and ultimately defeat Hungary, 10-8, in Group A of the preliminary round. Joustra logged 17 total minutes in the water and scored on an extra-player shot to put Netherlands up 4-1. Meanwhile, Cal men's water polo alumnus, Chris Oeding, who is serving as an assistant coach for the USA women's water polo squad, saw the Americans open Olympic competition with a 15-6 victory over Greece.
 
Badminton
Golden Bear twins and American doubles partners Annie Xu and Kerry Xu lost to China, 2-0 (11-21, 14-21), in Group (B) Play. They'll be back in action at 11:20 a.m. PT Sunday against Hong Kong as group play progresses. Fellow American Joshua Yuan, playing alongside Vinson Chiu in men's doubles, lost 2-0 (13-21, 16-21) to Denmark.
 
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