Florida’s Caeleb Dressel made a 17-point 50-yard freestyle start to come into view for the entire sprinting community as he stunned the swimming world with an 18.23 NCAA and American record during finals of the men’s 50-yard free at the 2016 Southeastern Conference Championships.
Dressel, who first blasted an 18.39 this morning during prelims to break the NCAA and American record, took that time even lower with a scorching 18.23.
Dressel, who blasted his way to a sizzling 23.43 breaststroke split for Florida en route to the Gators winning the SEC title in the 200-yard medley relay with a 1:23.69 last night, pounced on the 50-yard free this morning with a sizzling 18.39.
That prelim swim completely wiped out Nathan Adrian’s American record of 18.66 set back in 2011 in Minneapolis, while also undercutting Cesar Cielo’s 2008 NCAA mark of 18.47 set in Federal Way. Incidentally, he also thumped the previous pool record of 19.24 set by Jimmy Feigen with Texas back in 2009.
#HungarianHammer is 2nd in 19.17, Darmody 7th in 19.52. pic.twitter.com/uNek6jRcW8
— Auburn Swim & Dive (@AuburnSwimming) February 18, 2016
Event 12 Men 50 Yard Freestyle
=========================================================================
US Open: O 18.39 2/17/2016 Caleb Dressel, Florida
NCAA: N 18.39 2/17/2016 Caleb Dressel, Florida
American: M 18.39 2/17/2016 Caleb Dressel, Florida
SEC Meet: S 18.39 2/17/2016 Caleb Dressel, Florida
Pool: P 18.39 2/17/2016 Caleb Dressel, Florida
19.18 A
20.19 B
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== A - Final ===
1 Dressel, Caeleb SO FLOR-FL 18.39 18.23OA 32
r:+0.64
2 Holoda, Peter SO AUB-SE 19.30 19.17 A 28
r:+0.70
3 Chadwick, Micha JR Mizzou-MV 19.37 19.23 B 27
r:+0.67
4 Gkolomeev, Kris JR Alabama-SE 19.21 19.25 B 26
r:+0.68
5 Main, Corey C SR FLOR-FL 19.60 19.36 B 25
r:+0.61
6 Decoursey, Kyle FR Tennessee-SE 19.65 19.43 B 24
r:+0.73
7 Darmody, Kyle J JR AUB-SE 19.44 19.52 B 23
r:+0.67
8 Walsh, Brett H SR Alabama-SE 19.61 19.74 B 22
r:+0.63
Heading into today, Dressel’s previous best time had been an 18.67 at the 2015 NCAA Men’s Championships. He’s now cleared 19 seconds a total of 10 times since first breaking the barrier as a precocious junior swimmer with an 18.94 relay leadoff at the 2013 Speedo Winter Junior Nationals.
The big question now is whether head coach Gregg Troy follows through on his pre-season promise to shave his mustache if Dressel posted an 18.39.
During a pre-season Q&A held by Florida Athletics, Dressel started the following exchange:
“Caeleb Dressel: What time would you take in a 50 free for you to shave your mustache?
GT: Short course 18.39 / Long course 20.89.”
Florida Athletics is on record stating that should the shave actually happen, it will make sure it gets plenty of coverage.
Dressel then closed the night with a casual 18.41 split for the Gators during a winning 1:16.46 in the men’s 200-yard free relay.
1 FLOR-FL 1:17.55 1:16.46PA 64
1) Main, Corey C SR 2) r:0.32 Szaranek, Mark SO
3) r:0.18 Dressel, Caeleb SO 4) r:0.12 Blyzinskyj, Jack JR
r:15.37 19.43 39.00 (19.57)
57.41 (18.41) 1:16.46 (19.05)
Tomorrow, I’ll go down, get a good warmup, and see if I can go faster than that. Unfortunately I will be running 50 yards on a track and probably go slower than that….
A truly amazing feat to watch…
Wow!
Evan Apuron wowsa!
Absolutely outstanding!
Paulina Gutierrez read this, it’s insane! Also if you watch the video skip to 2:05ish because everything before that is the officials announcing the swimmers
Dude this is crazy
I can’t believe the size of lead he establish just coming out of the breakout…..yowser. Hopefully Dressel can wipe that smug look off Manaudou’s face come Summer…
Marius Zobel Florian Kaufmann Niclas Weiß
Avi Cohen
זה ספרינט!
50 yard…☝️
Samuel Dallimore
That suit doesn’t look FINA approved!
Tony Orfeo was this you in disguise, #nowinthefastlane
Absolute legend!
I would like to see how fast Florent Manaudou goes in this kind of race. Obviously he has more important things to do.
Whe he does an 18 and I can’t even make 30 regularly Kieran Sword Paul Linton
It’s yards
still tho
Breana Gilroy read this, it’s crazy! Watch the race too – amazing swim
Caleb is such a great person he is to Florida and swimming what Tim Tebow was to Florida and football