Jack Alexy: Five things to know about the USA Swimming star
Jack Alexy announced his arrival at the top table of swimming with five medals at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Jpan.
The 6-foot-7 sprinter, who was just 20-years-old, took silver in the coveted men's 50m and 100m freestyle, in addition to helping Team USA to the men's 4x100 medley relay gold, silver in the mixed 400 freestyle relay, and bronze in the men's 400 freestyle relay.
With world-record holder David Popovici, Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers, 200 free world champ Matt Richards, and 2022 silver medallist Maxime Grousset, and world No. 1 Zhanle Pan all lining up on the blocks for the 100 final, very few people were talking about Alexy in lane eight.
But that all changed when the New Jersey man touched home in 47.31 to become one of the key figures to watch in the event heading towards the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
He underlined that when he beat reigning Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel by 0.2s in the 100 free at the Pro Swim Series in Westmont.
Below, we take a look at some of the lesser-known facts about the swimming prodigy, from a rich sporting lineage to his greatest inspirations.
(L-R) Silver medallist Jack Alexy of Team USA, gold medallist Kyle Chalmers of Australia and Maxime Grousset of France pose during the medal ceremony for the Men's 100m Freestyle Final of the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
1 - Jack Alexy's impressive sporting DNA
Athleticism runs in Jack Alexy’s veins.
His impressive physique and sporting ability could possibly be traced to his grandfather, Bill Ebben, who played eight games in the NBA as a third round pick for the Detroit Pistons in 1957-58.
The sporting gene was passed down to Alexy's mother, Lynn Ebben, who was a star guard for the Notre Dame college basketball team in the 1980s where she won a pair of conference titles.
Carrying on this sporting tradition, Alexy is joined on the University of California-Berkeley swim team by his brother Rob Alexy.
2 - The story behind Jack Alexy's tattoo
The Cal swim team has a tradition where swimmers get a Golden Bear tattoo if they score points at the NCAAs.
Alexy joined Cal with a huge reputation, but a poor freshman resulted in no points in an individual event.
He overhauled his mindset, diet, and training regime, which helped him enjoy incredible success in his next season.
“I was approaching every practice with that mindset and question of asking myself, what do I do today in these next two hours that I have in the water to make an Olympic team or make a world team or win an Olympic medal,” he told NBC Sports.
“If I didn’t have that failure, I wouldn’t have been able to get to where I am now."
After the 2023 World Championships, Alexy finally got a Golden Bear tattooed behind his left shoulder.
FUKUOKA, JAPAN - JULY 30: Gold medallists Dare Rose, Jack Alexy, Nic Fink and Ryan Murphy of Team United States pose during the medal ceremony for the Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final on day eight of the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships at Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A on July 30, 2023 in Fukuoka, Japan. (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)
3 - Inspired by David Popovici
Another factor that helped Alexy improve was incorporating some lessons learnt from David Popovici.
The Romanian, who won the 2022 men's 100 freestyle world champion and is a former world record holder, is known for his love of simply spending time in the water.
“David Popovici is in the water so much and he has such a great connection to the water," Alexy told swimswam.
“That’s really important for me - not necessarily putting yards in but just being in the water and doing drill work or just floating around or sculling, so that’s helped me a lot.
“Doing everything in practice with the intention to get better, and not just going through the motions, really helped me too.”
4 - Motivated by David Goggins
David Goggins is a navy seal-turned-ultra athlete, author, and motivation guru who has become popular in recent years for his no-nonsense view on life.
Alexy was taken with his teachings, and tries to approach his life as an athlete according to Goggins' principles.
“One of the things that he preaches is being the best version of yourself, and not looking back on your life and being haunted by the ghosts of your potential and reaching your full potential in every aspect of life," he told USA Swimming.
“I don’t want to look back and think that if I’d put in 10% more effort every day, it could have made that much of a difference. I want to be the best version of myself that I possibly can in and out of the pool.
“I truly believe in this and it’s how I try to live my life every single day with every decision I take.”
5 - He likes dogs!
Simply put, Jack Alexy is a canine fan, and let the world know about it on his social media handles!