Blake John Pieroni ( pə-ROH-nee; born November 15, 1995) is a three-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming. He is a two time Olympian and gold medalist in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at both the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics. On the relay in 2016, he swam in the prelims of the race, on the 2020 Olympics 4×100-meter freestyle relay he swam in both the prelims and the final. He also won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay at the 2020 Olympic Games, swimming the freestyle leg of the relay in the prelims.
Pieroni was born in Crown Point, Indiana, and raised in Chesterton where he graduated from Chesterton High School in 2014. He graduated from Indiana University. Pieroni continues to swim at Indiana University as a member of the Pro Swim group along with fellow professional swimmers, Cody Miller, Lilly King, and Annie Lazor.
2013 World Junior Championships
In 2013, at the World Junior Championships in Dubai, Pieroni took the bronze in the 4 × 200 m freestyle with the men's relay team.
2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships
As an 18-year-old at the 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Maui, Hawaii, Pieroni won gold medals in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay (3:18.68) and 4×200 meter freestyle relay (7:21.36), as well as silver medals in the 100 meter freestyle (50.30) and 200 meter freestyle (1:48.85).
At the US Olympic Trials, he qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as a 4×100 meter freestyle relay swimmer. In the heats, he swam a split time of 48.39 on the third leg, and the team went on to win the gold medal.
2016 and 2017 World Championships
At the 2016 World Championships in Windsor, Ontario, with the men's relay team, Pieroni won two silver and one bronze medals: silver in 4 x 50 m freestyle; silver in 4 × 200 m freestyle and bronze in 4 × 100 m freestyle.
Pieroni won two gold medals and a bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest as part of the men's and mixed freestyle teams: gold in 4 × 100 m freestyle, gold in 4 × 100 m mixed freestyle and bronze in 4 × 200 m freestyle.
In March 2018 at the NCAA championships he set the American and US Open records in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:29.63, becoming the first swimmer to break 1:30. Two days later his record was broken by Townley Haas.
2018 Pan Pacific and World Championships
At the Tokyo Pan Pacific Championships in August 2018, Pieroni won gold with the men's relay team in the 4 × 200 m freestyle event. He also won the B-final of the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.22 seconds and ranked ninth across both finals heats.
At the 2018 World Championships in Hangzhou, China, which took place in a short course (25m) pool in December, Pieroni returned home with three gold medals, having won the 200 m freestyle as well as 4 × 100 m freestyle and medley events, as part of the men's relay team.
At the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, Pieroni took home two gold medals as part of the 4 × 100 m and 4 x 100 mixed freestyle teams. He also won a bronze medal as part of the 4 × 200 m freestyle team.
2019—2020 International Swimming League
In fall of 2019, Pieroni signed for the team LA Current in the inaugural International Swimming League season. In the spring of 2020, he signed to compete in the 2020 International Swimming League for the team Toronto Titans, which was the first team in the International Swimming League based in Canada.
Pieroni placed third in the 100m freestyle at the US Olympic Swimming Trials with a time of 48.16, qualifying him for the US Olympic Swimming team in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. Earlier in the meet, in the 200-meter freestyle, Pieroni ranked seventh overall with a time of 1:46.57 and qualified for his first event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the 4x200-meter freestyle relay.