Saugus High School graduate Abbey Weitzeil won an Olympic gold medal Saturday without having to swim.
Weitzeil helped the United States post the fastest time in Friday’s heats of the mixed 4×100-meter medley relay at the Paris Olympics.
With Weitzeil swimming the final leg in 53.36 seconds, the U.S. won the second of two heats in 3:40.98, topping Australia’s time of 3:41.42 in the first heat at Paris La Defense Arena.
Weitzeil’s time was fourth among the six women swimming the freestyle leg.
Mixed medley relay teams consist of two men and two women with the coach deciding the order of swimmers.
Regan Smith swam the opening backstroke leg in 57.87, the fastest of the four women swimming the leg and fifth-fastest overall.
Charlie Swanson swam the breaststroke leg in 59.65, the second-fastest time, with seven of the eight coaches choosing a male for the leg, lifting the U.S. into second.
The Americans took the lead after Caleb Dressel swam the butterfly leg in 50.10, the leg’s fastest time.
Fielding an entirely different team than in the heat, the U.S. won Saturday’s final in a world-record 3:37.43, breaking the previous record of 3:37.58 set by Great Britain in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The U.S. took the lead with Ryan Murphy swimming the backstroke leg in 52.08 seconds, but dropped to second, 0.42 seconds behind China as Qin Haiyang swam the breaststroke leg in 57.82 seconds, 0.47 seconds faster than Nic Fink.
The Americans regained the lead as Gretchen Walsh swam the butterfly leg in 55.18, fastest among the four women swimming the leg.
Tori Huske had the fastest time among the eight women swimming the freestyle leg, 51.88 seconds, to give the U.S. the world record.
China was second in 3:37.55, the second-fastest time all-time and an Asian record.
Australia was third in 3:38.76, the ninth-fastest time all-time and Oceanian record.
Under Olympic rules, swimmers who swim in a heat but not the final also receive medals.
The gold medal was the second for the 27-year-old Weitzeil. She won a gold medal in the 4×100 medley relay in the 2016 Olympics.
The medal was the sixth for Weitzeil and second of the Paris Games. She won a silver medal for swimming a leg in a heat of the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay last Saturday.
Weitzeil graduated from Saugus High School in 2015 and received a bachelor’s degree in health and welfare studies from the UC Berkeley in 2020.