Caeleb Dressel Eyeing 2028 Olympic 50 Free as Coda to Career
Caeleb Dressel said on Saturday that he has his eyes on the 50 freestyle at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles as a possible end to his storied career.
Dressel, a native of Green Cove Springs, Fla., was serving as an honorary official at the NASCAR Cup Series race in Daytona on Saturday. He’s less than a month removed from missing out on an individual medal at the Paris Olympics, taking home gold in the men’s 400 free relay and mixed medley relay as well as silver in the 400 medley relay.
“I’m young. I’m feeling good,” Dressel told the Associated Press. “It’s hard right now because when you get done with a championship meet the last thing you want to think about is swimming. That’s why I’m running around in Daytona and having a good time.
“But it has always been one of my dreams to compete on American soil at a championship meet. So, yes, my eyes are on 2028. I don’t think it’s going to be a full-event lineup. I think maybe just the 50 free, put a little bit more muscle on, don’t have to be in as good a shape. So maybe look forward to just doing the splash-and-dash. That might be a good time for me.”
Dressel turned 28 on Aug. 16, born in 1996, the last time the Summer Olympics was in the United States. He’s the owner of 10 career Olympic gold medals, nine of them gold. That includes three individual medals from the Tokyo Olympics, in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly. His program was shorter in Paris, having qualified in the 100 free only for the relay. A common path to longevity, especially for male sprinters, is to go shorter – in distance and in program – as they advance in age.
Dressel finished sixth in the 50 free in Paris with a time of 21.61 seconds that was just .05 off the podium (he’d won in Tokyo in an Olympic record 21.07). He was 13th in the 100 fly, falling short of finals.
“Not the exact results I wanted from the games this year, individually, but that’s how the sport goes sometimes,” he said. “Sometimes it’s not your week, but I’m holding my head high. It’s really nice being home. I hope I made my country proud and hope I did my job on relays.”
Dressel has been public about his battles with mental health. He’s developed a new outlook on the sport since the birth of his son, August, in February. One more Olympics would give his son a chance to watch him compete and perhaps maintain memories of the experience, before a home-country audience.