Morning Splash by David Rieder.
At the Olympics in Rio, the U.S. Olympic coaching staff entrusted a 19-year-old to set the tone in one of the Games’ most anticipated races. In his very first Olympic swim, Caeleb Dressel would lead off the men’s 400 free relay. Best to take advantage of his explosive start, the coaches figured.
The decision paid off with gold. In the ensuing days, Dressel swam the men’s 100 free and advanced to the final, swimming under 48 for the first time, and then he got another gold medal for his participation on the men’s medley relay in prelims.
Dressel had long oozed with sprint potential, and at the Olympics, he emphatically delivered. It was plenty reasonable to view the burgeoning star among the favorites in the 50 and 100 free and even the 50 fly, typically a sprinter’s haven, at this week’s U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
But Dressel has been far more than advertised this week. In the sprints, he has been about what one might have expected—second place in the 100 free in 47.97, a few hundredths off his best time, and first place in the 50 fly in 23.05. But who would have figured that Dressel would also win the 100 fly and make the World Champs team for the 800 free relay as well?
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
It was the butterflys where Dressel has surprised himself the most. In the 100 fly Thursday night, Dressel won by a half-second and put up a time of 50.87, the No. 1 time in the world this year. It’s faster than any American, Michael Phelps included, swam all of last year. At the Olympics, only gold medalist Joseph Schooling (50.39) went quicker.
And then there’s the 200 free, a race that so many sprinters struggle to put together in the long course format. But Dressel pulled it off, finishing sixth in 1:47.51 to pick up a relay spot for Budapest.
He figured out how he can navigate the four-lap race successfully: He can’t go all-out from the gun—or else he will fade, as sprinters are known to do in a 200—but he still has to take advantage of his otherworldly power off the walls.
“I’m really bad at generating speed,” Dressel said. “If you were to start me from a dead stop, I’d be really bad at it,” he said. “My big thing is coming off the walls and breakouts. I’ve got to be at the speed I want to be, or it’s going to be hard for me to just switch it on like that.”
For years, there has existed a traditional sprinter mold: Specialize in the 50 and 100 free, and swim those events every meet. Occasionally, maybe throw in a 50 or 100 fly or a 200 free, but that’s a secondary focus. Nathan Adrian, the top American sprinter for the entirity last decade, hasn’t raced anything in long course besides a 50 or 100 free in years.
Dressel and his coach, Florida’s Gregg Troy, had other plans.
“The training you do for the 200 extends his base to swim other things,” Troy said. “It obviously hasn’t hurt his speed at all—we’ll have a little bit better feel for it when he swims the 50. I think you can do all of it.”
So Dressel is no longer just a sprinter. In Budapest, he and breaststroker Kevin Cordes will be the only U.S. men swimming three or more individual events—and Dressel could still have four, pending his result in the 50 free at Nationals.
“One of the conversations when we recruited him was, ‘Do you want to be just a sprinter or do you want to extend what you’re doing?’” Troy said. “His bread and butter certainly is the speed area, but if he wants to be great in Tokyo, he can’t just focus on the 50 and 100 free.”
Even as his fly and his 200 free have come around this year, Troy insists Dressel has made improvements in sprint free. He took three less stroke cycles in that race at Nationals than he did at the Olympics.
“That was our goal for this year, to be more efficient,” Troy said. “You can’t win on just turnover.”
After racing just five times at the Olympics last summer, Dressel is poised to play a much more central role for Team USA in Budapest. Three rounds of each of his individual races plus three relays comes out to 12 swims, pending the possible addition of the 50 free to his lineup.
Troy thinks Dressel is physically and mentally tough enough to handle the massive load, but he did indicate they may consider paring down the schedule a little bit, noting that he and Dressel “are going to be sane about what we do.”
Regardless of what decisions they make about Budapest, it’s clear that the Dressel has some versatility he’s willing to show off. Troy, in fact, believes the 100 fly might end up becoming Dressel’s best event in long course.
This week at Nationals, Dressel’s results have shaken up the conventional wisdom about his abilities and limitations and given the U.S. team a new wrinkle which could produce big results over the next few years.
All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.