Americans have more depth than anyone at the pool, but gold medals harder and harder to come by

NANTERRE, France (AP) — No one can match America's depth at the pool.

That said, claiming the top step on the Olympic medal podium is no longer a given for U.S. swimmers.

Nine days of thrilling competition at La Defense Arena wrapped up Sunday night with the Americans barely pulling out the lead in the gold medal standings thanks to a victory in the last race.

The U.S. finished with just eight golds, its fewest since the 1988 Seoul Games and one ahead of its biggest rival, Australia.

“It’s one of the worst performances in history as a U.S. team,” Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever and part of the NBC broadcast team in Paris, said Monday. “Something’s got to happen before 2028 because if you have a repeat like this, it’s gonna be even more embarrassing.”

Notably, the rest of the world totaled more victories (20) than the United States and Australia combined, the first time that's happened since the 1996 Atlanta Games.

The Americans will certainly be intent on improving their performance heading into the home games at Los Angeles in 2028, when swimming will have in its largest, most spectacular setting yet — a temporary pool inside SoFi Stadium with a capacity for some 38,000 fans.

Still, with more and more international swimmers getting their training in the U.S. — and prominent American coaches such as Bob Bowman spreading their knowledge to other countries — a more diverse list of gold medalists is likely to be the norm going forward.

“This sport is growing and I can’t help but feel like we’ve been a part of that,” American gold medalist Bobby Finke said. “It’s something we should take home and be proud of.”

Two of the biggest swimming stars in Paris, France's Léon Marchand and Canada's Summer McIntosh, train in the U.S. but won a bevy of medals for their home countries.

Marchand, who captured four individual golds as well as a relay bronze, is coached by Bowman, best known as the guy who guided Michael Phelps throughout his record-setting career. It was a bit strange to see Bowman in a France shirt, working on the coaching staff of Marchand's nation.

After a break to savor his Olympic triumph, Marchand will return to the U.S. to continue his work with Bowman, who now heads the swimming program at the University of Texas.

“Look at Bob Bowman. He doesn't care if you're from the USA or whatever,” said Shane Ryan, an American-born swimmer who competes for Ireland. “He just wants to coach the fastest swimmers at all times.”

McIntosh trains with a team in Sarasota, Florida, where she honed the form that produced three individual gold medals — the most ever by a Canadian athlete — and a silver.

“I think competition is great,” said longtime American stalwart Ryan Murphy, who trains with several international athletes at Cal-Berkeley including Spain's Hugo González. “He’s pushed me a lot. There’s plenty of days where he’s right next to me and helping me get better.”

Murphy said it's only natural in today's information-driven world that more nations are rising up to challenge the U.S.

“People will take a video of what they’re doing in practice and put it up on social media right away," he said. “The learning curve is so quick around the world. That’s a big reason why there’s so many talented athletes across the world now.”

The U.S. certainly has its shining moments in Paris.

Katie Ledecky won two more golds, moving her into a tie for second place among all athletes on the career list with nine. She also joined Phelps as the only swimmers to win the same event at four straight Summer Games with her victory in the 800-meter freestyle.

The women's team produced several more stars, including Torri Huske (three golds, two silvers), Gretchen Walsh (two golds, two silvers) and Regan Smith (two golds, three silvers).

But there were plenty of disappointments, particular on the men's side.

Caeleb Dressel, a big star at the Tokyo Games with five gold medals, finished sixth in the 50 freestyle and didn't even qualify for the final of the 100 butterfly.

Murphy settled for a bronze in the 100 backstroke and, like Dressel, failed to qualify for the final of his other individual event, the 200 back.

In all, the American men produced only two gold medals, and they didn't pick up an individual victory until Finke's world record in the 1,500 freestyle on the final night.

“You always want to be better,” said Anthony Nesty, head coach of the men's team. “Yes, we want our athletes to win gold medals, but the other teams have great athletes as well. We have to go back, all the coaches in the U.S., get back on it and hopefully four years from now we have a better result. From the men, for sure."

The depth of the American team remains its biggest strength. Even with four of its most prominent stars — Dressel, Murphy, Lilly King and Simone Manuel — managing only one individual medal (Murphy's bronze in the 100 back), the U.S. easily led the overall medals table with 28.

Three of the four world records set at the meet came from the Americans, two of them in relays.

“Whether our athletes won a gold medal or failed to make a semifinal or whatever it might be,” said U.S. women's coach Todd DeSorbo, “you've got to learn from it, go back home and be better.”

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Former Olympic champion Michael Phelps, from the United States, greets fans ahead of the evening swimming session at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

United States' Bobby Finke celebrates winning the gold medal in the men's 1500-meter freestyle final at the Summer Olympics in Nanterre, France, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

United States' Bobby Finke poses for a photo with his gold medal on the podium for the men's 1500-meter freestyle at the Summer Olympics in Nanterre, France, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

United States' Gretchen Walsh, from left, Lilly King and Regan Smith celebrate winning the gold medal in the women's 4x100-meter medley relay final at the Summer Olympics in Nanterre, France, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024.(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

United States' Lilly King competes in the women's 4x100-meter medley relay final at the Summer Olympics in Nanterre, France, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Ryan Murphy, of the United States, reacts after his heat in the men's 200-meter backstroke at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Caeleb Dressel of United States, warms up ahead of the men's 50-meter freestyle final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) — Feeling pretty good on a Saturday night, Connor Zilisch acted like so many teenagers when he slammed an energy drink on a table and started scrolling through his phone.

Then Zilisch interrupted his session with the media because he had to take a call.

“From Dale,” he said.

Yeah, Dale Earnhardt Jr. the Hall of Fame driver who now fields a ride for Zilisch in NASCAR's second-tier Xfinity Series.

That Zilisch could have been scrolling the rest of the night through congratulatory texts and TikTok highlights — and perhaps taking more calls from famous names — is what separates him from any other teenager. The 18-year-old next big thing is a NASCAR race winner.

Zilisch raced to victory in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, saving enough fuel in a wreck-marred finish to allow the teen sensation to take the first of what many in the industry expect to be a career full of checkered flags on Saturday at Watkins Glen International.

“I’ve worked so hard for this one,” Zilisch said. “I’ve been working on this one for months. It’s so special.”

Zilisch, who turned 18 in July, spent the majority of the race leading in the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports and was nowhere near the chaos in the back of the pack, but he was forced to stretch his fuel.

The race was red-flagged for about 20 minutes — where Zilisch killed time by radioing his team for college football scores — and the race was eventually forced into double overtime, though there was never a serious battle on the 2.45-mile road course for the lead.

“It's just a sense of relief knowing that I can compete against those guys,” Zilisch said.

Zilisch has been pegged by NASCAR drivers as one of the next big future stars.

“It’s cool to have people tell me that,” he said. “I still have a long road ahead of me, a lot of races ahead of me.”

His future truly started at Watkins Glen.

“He’s been really impressive,” Cup driver William Byron said. “He’s doing all the right things and making a lot of speed out there.”

Sheldon Creed was second, followed by AJ Allmendinger, Chandler Smith and Shane van Gisbergen.

Zilisch was go-karting before he started school, and raced in Europe until he was urged by former NASCAR star Kevin Harvick to try stock car racing. Zilisch signed a multiyear development deal earlier this year with Trackhouse Racing.

He’s run a variety of different series this year in the CARS Tour, ARCA, Trans-Am, IMSA and Trucks. Once he turned 18 in July, he was entered into four Xfinity Series races for JR Motorsports.

Age eligible to compete in IMSA sports car racing, he made his debut in January as the endurance driver for Era Motorsports and picked up LMP2 class wins in both the Rolex 24 at Daytona and again at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Zilisch made an instant impact at The Glen when he trounced the field a night earlier and won the ARCA Series race.

Zilisch had just two career starts in the NASCAR national ranks, both earlier this season in the Truck Series. Pressure? He won the pole and finished fourth at Circuit of the Americas in Texas.

He landed with an Xfinity team that all but guarantees future success.

Zilisch joins the team owned by Earnhardt. The team is a perennial Xfinity title contender that has helped launched Cup Series careers for Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Byron and Tyler Reddick, among others. He’ll finish this season for Earnhardt with speedway starts at Kansas, Homestead-Miami and Phoenix.

Zilisch had time to chat with the boss.

“Thank you, I appreciate it, Dale. It's cool, it's really cool,” Zilisch into the phone. “I appreciate everything you've done for me. It's a pleasure to be racing for you guys.”

Zilisch held up his phone so everyone could hear the familiar voice of NASCAR's 15-time most popular driver.

“Tell everyone I said hi,” Earnhardt said to laughter.

Zilisch won the pole and won the first stage before he ran into his only hiccup in the race, a penalty for cutting the course during a caution that dropped him out of the top three.

He regained his lead late and earned the win — yes, a true dream come true.

“There’s a lot to think about when you’re going into your debut like this,” Zilisch said. “I had my own hotel room, so nobody to talk to, just kind of lay there in thought and dream about winning.”

Zilisch became the seventh driver in Xfinity history to win his first race in the second-tier series.

Just hold the bubbly — because he’s only 18, Zilisch was forced to spray an energy drink in victory lane.

“I prepare for every race like it’s the most important race of my life,” he said. “That’s kind of what I did today.”

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

FILE - Connor Zilisch greets team members after the Rolex 24-hour auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Jan. 28, 2024, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)