Caeleb Dressel Finds Joy in Swimming, Returns to Olympic Team

Caeleb Dressel -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Caeleb Dressel Finds Joy in Swimming, Returns to Olympic Team

Almost two years to the day that Caeleb Dressel withdrew midway through the World Championships, the 27-year-old found his way back on the Olympic team Thursday.

Paris is set to be his third Games after previous trips to Rio and Tokyo, and after Dressel temporarily left the sport in hopes of reclaiming the zeal that had made him the world’s best male swimmer for the better part of five years.

Dressel has come a long way back, with identical times of 47.53 in the semifinals and finals of the 100 freestyle at U.S. Olympic Trials this week, securing an Olympic relay berth Wednesday.

Dressel was absent from training for more than six months before returning to the pool at the University of Florida under the watch of coach Anthony Nesty. Then came a slow build and the inevitable questions of whether that old greatness of Budapest, Gwangju and Tokyo would return. Dressel’s first major meet back, yielded a 29th-place finish in the 100 freestyle prelims and then, after several other swimmers scratched, a swim in the C final. His quickest time between those two swims was 49.42.

Dressel has come a long way since then. With a full season of training, his old strength largely returned. The closing speed is as effective as ever. He has yet to approach his career-best times, but he went sub-48 for the first time in two years in Tuesday’s 100 free preliminaries before the 47s. Dressel’s efforts rank him sixth in the world this year, with only the emergence of Chris Guiliano and Jack Alexy denying Dressel a top-two finish and individual 100 free swim in Paris.

Caeleb Dressel sprinting toward Paris — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

But Dressel’s third-placed finish qualified for the 400 free relay in Paris. The first part of the job is done. He’s on the plane. Naturally, his competitors are thrilled at the prospect of having Dressel available for a 400 free relay that will be favored for gold and possibly a world record.

Thomas Heilman, the youngest male swimmer to make a U.S. Olympic team since 2000, spoke of growing up idolizing Dressel and looked forward to getting to know the seven-time Olympic champion in the coming month.

The joy that is fueling Dressel’s return is evident: The fans at Lucas Oil Stadium saw it as Dressel climbed out of the pool and embraced his competition. Katie Ledecky, another member of that University of Florida pro group, has witnessed it each day since Dressel recommitted to the sport.

“I think he’s always had that smile, but I think everyone knows that he took that time away,” Ledecky said. “When he came back, he just, he’s had that smile every day. Just to see his progression over this past year, how he’s just gotten better and better each meet.

“He seems to just be loving this racing, and he loves the training probably more than the racing and makes everyone around him better, whether that’s his Florida teammates, including me. I mean, I’m a distance swimmer. We don’t do main sets together, but sometimes we have warmup together. We all get to the pool early. We all live on Gator time, which I learned very early it means you get to the pool deck 20 or 30 minutes before practice, and we usually start about 10 minutes early.”

The changes Dressel has brought since his return to training have included games of four square before practice and, more recently, an activity that Ledecky described as “head-volleying,” adding that she only watches and does not participate. “They just keep it so light,” Ledecky said. “Caeleb keeps it so light. That has an effect even on the distance swimmers.”

Dressel still has two individual races over the last four days of the meet. Smart money suggests that he will qualify in either the 50 free or 100 butterfly, if not both. But Ledecky and all of Dressel’s longtime teammates are pleased that he’s bringing his unique, lighthearted spirit with the team to training camp and then Paris.

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