Summer Olympics: Cal junior Alexy tops field of 79 swimmers, Ledecky qualifies for another final

The fastest sprinter in the Olympic pool on Tuesday morning was Cal junior Jack Alexy.

Alexy qualified for the 100-meter freestyle semifinals after finishing first out of 79 swimmers in the opening heats.

Alexy, a junior at Cal, finished in 47.57, not far off the Olympic record of 46.92, set last week by Chinese swimmer Zhanle Pan.

The semifinals are at 11:30 a.m. PT on Tuesday and the finals are Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. PT.

Alexy already won a gold medal in the 4×100 freestyle relay last week.

Ledecky in medal position again

One of the main stars of this year’s Olympics, Katie Ledecky looked strong in the 1,500-meter freestyle, a race in which she holds both the world record (15:20.48) and Olympic record (15:35.35).

Back in the pool Tuesday morning, she finished in 15:47.43, the fastest time of any of the 16 swimmers competing. She beat the second-fastest time by almost four seconds.

The final will take place on Wednesday at 12 p.m. PT as Ledecky looks to win her first gold of the Paris Games.

She already won a bronze medal in the 400-meter freestyle last week, but she’s still looking for her seventh career gold medal, which would tie Jenny Thompson for the most ever by a female swimmer. With two gold medals, she could tie the Olympic record for most by a female Olympian in any sport.

Ledecky, who won two national championships while at Stanford in 2017 and 2018, is the favorite to take the gold in both the 800- and 1,500-freestyle events this Olympics.

Huske looking for third medal of these games

After capturing the Americans’ first individual gold medal of the Paris Games, Torri Huske is putting herself in position for another.

Tuesday morning, Huske qualified for the semifinals in the 100-meter freestyle. Her 53.53-second time was seventh among 29 competitors and good enough for her to advance.

The semifinals take place at 12:30 p.m. PT on Tuesday and the finals are Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. PT.

Huske, 21, is taking a gap year from Stanford to focus on swimming.

She won the gold in the 100-meter butterfly last week and won a silver with the Americans’ 4×100 freestyle relay team as she looks to become one of the breakout stars of the Summer Games.

Local rower still alive in single sculls

Clayton’s Kara Kohler advanced again as the 33-year-old rower continued the pursuit of her first Olympic medal since the 2012 Games in London.

Racing in the women’s single sculls, she posted a 7:34.96 time, good enough to advance to the A/B semifinals on Thursday morning. It was a bit slower than her 7:32.46 time in her first heat over the weekend.

Kohler failed to make it to the A semifinal at the Tokyo Games by less than a second. She last won a medal as part of the women’s eight team in London that finished in third place.

Men’s water polo back on top

After a loss to Italy in their first game of group play, the American men’s water polo team handled Romania in a 14-8 win on Tuesday morning.

The two teams were tied, 3-3, going into the second quarter but the Americans finished strong thanks to Alex Bowen.

The four-year standout at Stanford scored three goals, all in the fourth quarter, to clinch the win.

Johnny Hooper, one of the highest scorers in Cal history, scored two goals.

After a standout career as the Cal goalie, three-time NCAA champion Adrian Weinberg had 14 saves on 22 shots against Romania.

The Americans get back in the pool against Greece at 1:30 a.m. PT on Thursday.