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Olympics: Caeleb Dressel Ties Olympic Record, Kristof Milak Second Seed in 100 Fly
The intersection of distance and stroke is rarely more evident in swimming than in the 100 butterfly. From one direction come the sprinters. From another come the pure butterfliers.
In Tokyo, it appears, the marquee collision will pit two sprinters from opposite sides of the track against each other.
Both Caeleb Dressel and Kristof Milak coasted through the heats of the men’s 100 fly at the Tokyo Olympics Thursday night, booking the top two seeds. Dressel won the final heat in an Olympic record of 50.39, tying Joseph Schooling’s Olympic record from 2016. Milak had won the prior heat with a typically strong back half to go 50.62.
Milak enters with gold in the 200 fly, undercutting Michael Phelps’ 13-year-old Olympic record and only separated from lowering his world record by a last-minute suit malfunction. Dressel scared his world record in the 100 free Thursday morning, edging Kyle Chalmers of Australia for gold in a titanic duel.
Milak was the only one of the 200 fly finalists to even survive heats of the 100 fly. Bronze medalist Federico Burdisso of Italy went 51.82 to finish 17th. A spot behind is Chad le Clos, the silver medalist at each of the last two Games in the 100 fly and fifth-place finisher in the 200 fly, who went 51.89. Schooling, the reigning Olympic champion who has struggled in the fifth years since, was last his un-circle-seeded heat. He went 53.12 to finish 44th.
Instead, some new blood slides into the semifinal. Josif Miladinov, the 18-year-old Bulgarian, is sixth in 51.28. Josh Liendo, the 20-year-old Canadian, is in a second final in ninth. Virginia Tech star Youssef Ramadan of Egypt is tied for 14th. Guatemalan veteran Luis Martinez is seventh.
Veteran standbys like Mehdy Metella, Tom Shields and Szebasztian Szabo are also there.
Men’s 100 Butterfly
- World Record: Caeleb Dressel, United States, 49.50 (2019)
- Olympic Record: Joseph Schooling, Singapore, 50.39 (2016)
- Caeleb Dressel, United States, 50.39
- Kristof Milak, Hungary, 50.62
- Jakub Majerski, Poland, 50.97
- Andrei Minakov, Russia, 51.00
- Noe Ponti, Switzerland, 51.24
- Josef Miladinov, Bulgaria, 51.28
- Luis Martinez, Guatemala, 51.29
- Matthew Temple, Australia, 51.39
- Josh Liendo, Canada, 51.52
- Mehdy Metella, France, 51.53
- Nyls Korstanje, Netherlands, 51.54
- Naoki Mizunuma, Japan, 51.57
- Tom Shields, United States, 51.57
- Youssef Ramadan, Egypt, 51.67
- Szebasztian Szabo, Hungary, 51.67
- Sun Jiajung, China, 51.74
