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The United States fired back with another 1-2 finish of their own in the men’s 100 fly after Australia did it in the 400 free earlier in the night. Caeleb Dressel swam a 50.75 for a new meet record on Saturday night in Tokyo at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.
Dressel keeps the title in the United States as they have not lost this race at this meet since 2002 when Australian Michael Klim won the title. Fellow American Jack Conger (51.32) finished in second with the silver medal.
Dressel took down Michael Phelps’s meet record of 50.86 from 2010. Dressel has been faster already this year with his 50.50 from US Nationals a few weeks ago. Conger also was quicker at Nationals with his 51.11. Both those guys will compete again at Worlds next summer in Gwangju as Michael Andrew won the B-Final at 51.53.
Brazil’s Vini Lanza won the bronze medal with a 51.44, not far off of the Brazilian Record of 51.02 by Gabriel Mangabeira. This is Lanza’s first major international medal in his career, even though he was just a fraction faster earlier this summer.
Australia’s Grant Irvine (51.65) and David Morgan (51.80) finished in fourth and fifth in the final.
With the 4×100 medley relay on the last night, this is Australia’s major weakness compared to the Americans. The other three legs are pretty evenly matched between the Americans and their down under competitors. Dressel will need to play to his strengths if the US are to beat Australia in this relay on Sunday night because butterfly could be the deciding factor.
Japan’s Yuki Kobori (51.82), Brazil’s Iago Moussalem (52.17) and Japan’s Yuya Yajima (52.70) also competed in the A-Final.
2018 World Rankings:
- Caeleb Dressel, USA, 50.50
- Piero Codia, ITA, 50.64
- Chad Le Clos, RSA, 50.65
- Jack Conger, USA, 51.00
- Mehdy Metella, FRA, 51.24
- James Guy, GBR, 51.31
- Vini Lanza, BRA, 51.42
- Jack Saunderson, USA, 51.48
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