U.S. Nationals, Day 5 Finals: Jack Alexy Dominates 50 Free, Santo Condorelli Qualifies for First U.S. Team
Men’s sprint freestyle in the United States is in the hands of Jack Alexy. The 22-year-old who swims at Cal-Berkeley stated his intentions in the first session of U.S. Nationals when he clocked 46.99 in the 100 free prelims, and his ensuing win in the final sent him to the World Championships as an individual medal favorite and the desperately-sought reliable anchor swimmer for the 400 free and medley relays.
Now, Alexy adds a second individual event to his program. He claimed victory in the last championship final contested in Indianapolis, the 50 free, and the one-lapper brings further promise of medal contention when he gets to Singapore next month. Although Alexy fell to fourth in the 50 at last year’s Olympic Trials, he previously won World Championships silver in the event behind Cameron McEvoy in 2023.
In the final, Alexy emerged from a near-dead-heat halfway down the pool and pulled away to win by three tenths. He clocked 21.36, making him the fastest swimmer in the world this year. Alexy beat his previous season-best of 21.49, clocked in a time trial Thursday afternoon, by a considerable margin. He moved ahead of three others who have recorded 21.4s this year, Russia’s Egor Kornev, Brazil’s Gui Caribe and McEvoy.
“The past two years, I’ve been in the 21.6, 21.5-range. Just going through reps and going through my good training this year, I’m really happy to see that drop, and I’m really excited to swim that at Worlds,” Alexy said in a post-race interview with NBC Sports. “It’s just a big learning experience. These high-pressure trials meets are great to really lock in your process and practice what you’re going to do at big meets like Worlds and Olympics. I was just happy I could get it done, and I’m super excited to represent the USA.”
And accompanying Alexy in the event in Singapore will be Santo Condorelli, who will represent the U.S. in international competition for the first time. The 30-year-old Condorelli has competed in two previous Olympic Games with different countries, Canada in 2016 and Italy in 2021, but he was born in Japan and grew up in Oregon.
After switching his sporting nationality for a second time, Condorelli edged out the remaining swimmers in the heat to finish second in 21.68. Jonny Kulow placed third in 21.73 with Quintin McCarty fourth.
“It was like my father’s and my goal going into Paris,” Condorelli said of representing the United States. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that. But we still always wanted that to be a thing, and I lost my father back in January, so probably kind of had no choice, but at least try. So that’s why I’m here today.”
Alexy qualified for his first major meet in the same Indianapolis pool two years ago, and he has since put together a solid international résumé. Silvers in both individual events in 2023 were followed by a mixed Olympic performance where Alexy led off the gold-medal-winning 400 free relay squad but fell to seventh in the individual 100-meter final, losing his medley relay anchor spot to Hunter Armstrong.
He would rebound at the end of the year to win five medals, including individual gold in the 100 free, at the Short Course World Championships, and another substantial run of medals could follow in Singapore.
