U.S. International Team Trials: Caeleb Dressel Pulls Away for 100 Free Title; Brooks Curry Second
The best swimmer in the world over the past five years secured his spot on the World Championships team with a win in the 100 freestyle at U.S. International Team Trials. Caeleb Dressel held a slight lead over Brooks Curry and Ryan Held at the halfway point, and he then extended the lead.
Dressel finished in 47.79, well off his American record of 46.96, but this race was just a stepping stone to the year’s major international competition, the World Championships in Budapest. Dressel has been building back to form following his transcendent five-gold-medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics, and he will be surely be faster when a third consecutive world title is on the line in June.
“Way better swim than this morning. What a fun race. Happy for this guy to be going back,” Dressel said in an interview with NBC Sports on-deck after the race, pointing to runnerup Curry.
Dressel has mostly been quiet in the pool since Tokyo, but he did change coaches in November, switching from long-time mentor Gregg Troy to training with the University of Florida college team under coaches Anthony Nesty and Steve Jungbluth. That move, Dressel said, has been positive all-around for him. “It’s been great to be back in Gainesville training with my teammates, the Gators,” he said. “That was my goal this year, be happy, and I think we’ve got a good grasp on that.
Curry finished second in a lifetime-best mark of 48.04, and he will be swimming an individual event at the World Championships after making his national team debut for relay duty only in Tokyo. The breakthrough came just over a month after Curry won individual titles at the NCAA Championships in the 50 and 100-yard free.
“It was really awesome swimming Caeleb again, and especially being close to him in that race, it was special. I’m super excited to make my first Worlds team,” Curry said. “I came back from NCs, got right back in the water. I think I took two, maybe three days off. I formed a plan and stuck to it. The first two weeks really sucked as usual coming off a week like that. I stuck to the training plan, came back and started preparing. I had to keep my mind in a good place, too. I had to come off that meet and refocus.”
Curry knows that the result here will mean more expectations as he heads to the World Championships, and he believes he is ready for that. His next step? Getting under 48. “I just need to put the race together,” he said. “I’ve got plenty of pieces I can work on. I’ve got details I can work on. I’ve got breakouts and tempos to put together. Once that comes, it’s going to be over. I’m going 47 for sure.
Held finished third in 48.18, and that swim put him on his first World Championships team. He previously won gold in the 400 free relay at the 2016 Olympics, but he narrowly missed the 2017 and 2019 Worlds and then the 2021 Olympics before breaking through again here.
Drew Kibler and Hunter Armstrong tied for fourth in 48.25. Only four swimmers are automatically selected to swim the 400 free relay at the World Championships, but the fifth-place and sixth-place swimmers are usually added to the team later on, which would mean both Kibler and Armstrong qualify for Budapest. Justin Ress finished sixth in 48.38, so he could return to the global championships after previously representing the United States in the 50 back at the 2017 World Championships.
