Zachary Douglas Apple (born April 23, 1997) is an American retired competitive swimmer who specialized in the sprint freestyle events. He used to swim for DC Trident in the International Swimming League. He won his first Olympic gold medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics, swimming in the prelims and the final of the event, and later in the same Olympic Games won a gold medal and helped set a new world record and Olympic record in the 4x100-meter medley relay, swimming the freestyle leg of the relay in the final.
He competed at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships held in Gwangju, South Korea, winning four medals – two gold, one silver, and one bronze. He won a gold medal and set a new Championships record as part of the finals relay in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay. He was also a part of the finals relay team in the mixed 4x100-meter freestyle relay that won the gold medal in a world record time of 3 minutes, 19.40 seconds.
Zach Apple was born April 23, 1997, in Trenton, Ohio, as the son of Doug and Allison Apple. Apple attended Edgewood High School and swam for GMVY Wahoos club team. In 2015, he was the YMCA Long Course National Champion in the 50m freestyle and runner-up for 200m freestyle. Apple swam collegiately at Auburn University from 2015 to 2018 and then transferred to Indiana University to finish his college career from 2018 to 2019.
As a freshman for the Auburn Tigers, Apple finished 19th in the 50-yard freestyle, 35th in the 100-yard and 20th in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2016 Men's NCAA Division I Championships. He also earned All-American honors as a member of the 200-yard freestyle relay that finished sixth.
In his sophomore year, Apple tied for fourth place in the 50-yard freestyle at the 2017 Men's NCAA Division I Championships. He also finished 12th and 14th in the 200 and 100-yard freestyle, and was a member of the 200-yard freestyle relay that finished sixth, 400-yard freestyle relay that finished 11th and 800-yard freestyle relay that finished 12th.
As a junior, Apple tied for 5th place in the 50-yard freestyle and was part of Auburn's 11th place in the 200-yard freestyle relay at the 2018 Men's NCAA Division I Championships. He also earned a third place in the 200-yard freestyle and finished tenth in the 100-yard freestyle.
In his final college season as a Hoosier, Apple finished fifth in the 50-yard freestyle, second in the 200 and third in the 100-yard freestyle. He also contributed to the team's second NCAA title in the 400-yard medley relay, 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays, which placed fourth.
At the World Championships Trials in Indianapolis, Apple finished first in the prelims of the 100-yard freestyle and ended up fourth in the finals, which qualified him for the 400-meter freestyle relay. He swam in the prelims at the meet and won a gold medal after team USA finished first in the finals.
2018 Pan Pacific Championships
Apple finished fourth in the 100 and fifth in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2018 National Swimming Championships, he qualified for the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships. At the meet, he finished second in the B-final in the 200-meter freestyle and fifth in the A-final in the 100-meter freestyle. He was also part of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay that won gold.
Zach Apple took home five gold medals: in the 100 and 200-meter freestyle as well as in the 4x100 and 4x200-meter freestyle, and 4x100 medley relay. He also finished sixth in the 50-meter freestyle.
At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships held in July in Gwangju, South Korea, Apple won a total of four medals, two golds, one silver, and one bronze, all in relay events. In the final of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, Apple swam alongside Caeleb Dressel, Blake Pieroni, and Nathan Adrian, helping the relay achieve a new Championships record and win the gold medal. Apple was the only swimmer on the relay to split under 47 seconds with his time of 46.86 seconds. This relay marked the first time since the 1970s that two Indiana University swimmers, Apple and Pieroni, had won a gold medal on the same relay team at a major championships meet.
Swimming with Caeleb Dressel, Mallory Comerford, and Simone Manuel in the final of mixed 4x100-meter freestyle relay, Apple won a gold medal and helped set a new world record of 3:19.40. Apple earned his silver medal of the meet in the 4x100 medley relay, swimming the freestyle leg of the relay in the prelims. He won his bronze medal in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, where his swims in the prelims and finals garnered attention from SwimSwam who heralded Apple as the reason the relay team won the bronze medal instead of not medaling.
Apple was a member of the inaugural International Swimming League swimming for the team DC Trident. He competed at the first two matches held in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Naples, Italy in October 2019, and the match held in College Park, Maryland in November 2019.
In December 2019, at the 2019 Toyota U.S. Open Championships held in Atlanta, Georgia, Apple placed second in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 21.81 behind Bruno Fratus, second in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:46.76 behind Townley Haas, and first in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 47.69 that also set a new Championship record in the event for the meet.
On June 17, 2021, Apple placed second in the 100-meter freestyle at the US Olympic Swimming Trials with a time of 47.72 and qualified for the 2020 US Olympic swimming team in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay and the individual 100-meter freestyle. Earlier in the meet, in the semifinals of the 200-meter freestyle on June 14, Apple swam a time of 1:46.22 in the 200-meter freestyle and ranked second overall, qualifying for the final. He finished fifth overall in the 200-meter freestyle final with a time of 1:46.45 and qualified for the 4x200-meter freestyle relay team at the 2020 Olympic Games on June 15.
On June 19, Apple ranked 12th in the 50-meter freestyle prelims with his time of 22.27 and advanced to the semifinals later the same day. In the semifinals, he swam a 22.50 and did not advance to the final, ranking 16th overall in the two semifinal heats.
At his first Olympic Games, the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Apple competed in the prelims and the final of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. In the final of the event, Apple swam the fastest of any of his relay teammates, splitting a 46.69, which was over half a second faster than the next fastest relay swimmer Caeleb Dressel. Apple had the second fastest split time of any swimmer in the event's final, swimming a quarter of a second slower than the 46.44 split by Kyle Chalmers of Australia. The finals relay of Apple, Caeleb Dressel, Bowe Becker, and Blake Pieroni finished first in a time of 3:08.97, with Apple anchoring the relay. All relay teammates, including prelims-only swimmer Brooks Curry, won the gold medal for their efforts. Apple was the first athlete from the Auburn University swim program, past or present, to win a gold medal in swimming at an Olympic Games since the 2012 Summer Olympics.