Add two more golds to number of Olympic medals won by Indiana University athletes.
IU grads Blake Pieroni and Zach Apple helped lead the United State’s men’s 400-meter freestyle team to the gold medal Sunday night.
Read: IU Swimming And Diving Well-Represented At Tokyo Olympics
Pieroni, a 2018 graduate, followed Caleb Dressel into the pool and gave the Americans the lead for good in the second leg. Bowe Becker swam the third leg and 2019 grad Apple finished it off with the fastest split to give the U.S. the gold.
The Americans won in 3:08.97, more than a second ahead of Italy. Australia won the bronze.
It was Pieroni’s second gold in the event and the 56 th and 57 th gold medals won by IU athletes at the Olympics since 1932. IU athletes have also claimed 17 silver medals and 32 bronze medals.
Lilly King is looking to add to that total tonight.
King, who won two golds at the 2016 games, will defend her Olympic title in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke. But the world recordholder in the event will have to get past South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker to do it. Schoenmaker edged out King in the preliminaries and in Sunday night’s semifinals.
More than a dozen current or former IU athletes are competing in the Tokyo Games, representing six countries. That includes golfer Jorge Campillo, who was chosen by Spain Monday to replace Jon Rahm. Rahm, the world's No. 1 ranked golfer, tested postive for COVID-19 and had to withdraw.
