U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 7 Finals: Caeleb Dressel Powers to 50 Freestyle Win, ‘Really Special For the Rest of My Life’

Caeleb Dressel -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 7 Finals: Caeleb Dressel Powers to 50 Freestyle Win, ‘Really Special For the Rest of My Life’

The fastest event in the pool kicked off night seven of Olympic Trials, a 21-second blast of pure power and intensity. As the swimmers came crashing into the wall, the man who has been the face of U.S. sprinting for the better part of the past decade was a half bodylength clear of the field and back on the Olympic team in an individual event.

Caeleb Dressel finished in 21.41, 28-hundredths ahead of the field Friday evening in Indianapolis. The time ranks the defending Olympic champion fourth in the world this year, behind Australia’s Cameron McEvoy, Great Britain’s Ben Proud and Ukraine’s Vladyslav Bukhov. Dressel was less than four tenths off his American record of 21.04, a time first achieved in 2019 and matched at Olympic Trials three years ago.

Dressel is perhaps the best starter in swimming history, a true athlete able to use his immense power to explode through the air and into his underwaters. When Dressel is at his best, he can maintain that speed and not let anyone catch up. He might not have reached his besttime , but no domestic rival was overcoming the seven-time Olympic gold medalist.

Dressel had already qualified for his third Olympic team with a third-place finish in the 100 free, his 47.53 more than a half-second off his American record but a significant accomplishment following an extended break from the sport in late 2022 and early 2023. His event load in Paris will be smaller than three years ago in Tokyo, but Dressel is still set to play an important role on the U.S. men’s 400 free relay, which will be favored for gold. He is favored to qualify for another individual swim in the 100 butterfly Saturday.

Even without hitting his best times, his performance at these Trials brought extra meaning to Dressel considering the improvement over the last year and because he has his family in Indianapolis, including wife, Meghan, and newborn son, August.

“It’s really special for the rest of my life to be able to say that my son got to watch me make the Olympic team,” Dressel said. “That’s something no one can take away from me. He’s not going to remember it. It doesn’t matter. A lot of special moments here.

“Of course I wanted to make the team. I was 22.6 last year. I was 49.6 100 free. I don’t even remember what my fly was. I’ve come a long way just in the past year, just strictly talking about times. I’m happy to be putting up times I haven’t gone in a really long time, and we’re going to get faster, too, so I’m really looking forward to that.”

The battle for second place came down to the slimmest of margins, Chris Guiliano pulling it out by one hundredth over the surprising Matt King. Guiliano touched in 21.69, with King at 21.70. Guiliano had already become the first American since Matt Biondi in 1988 to qualify for individual swims in the 100 and 200 free at the same Olympics, and he has successfully added the 50 as Biondi did 36 years ago.

Guiliano qualified for his first World Championships team last year but took a huge step forward in the 200 at the beginning of Trials, his 3.5-second drop and second-place finish setting the stage for a huge week. He knocked a quarter-second off his best time in the 100, and in the 50, Guiliano took off a massive .37 from 21.96 to 21.59 in semis.

“I couldn’t really capture what it would take time-wise (to make the team in all three events), but I said to my coaches a couple times, like why not, let’s go three for three. Why not try to go win all of them? That’s just kind of like the mindset I have going into these meets,” Guiliano said. “I’m ready for the challenge. Just have to level up here in five weeks or whatever. I can’t wait. I’m excited for the challenge.”

King missed a spot in Paris by one hundredth, meaning he will need enough swimmers to qualify in multiple events to get there as a relay alternate for finishing sixth in the 100 free. Two more doubles are required for King to make it, plausible with two the already qualified Dressel (100 fly) and Bobby Finke (1500 free) favored in their next events.

Jack Alexy finished fourth in 21.76, just ahead of Michael Andrew (21.81) and Ryan Held (21.85). Alexy, the silver medalist in the 50 free as an international rookie at last year’s World Championships, will have to focus on the 100 free plus relay duties. The 21-year-old had scared Dressel’s 100 free American record with a mark of 47.08 in prelims before he qualified for the individual event in second behind behind Guiliano in the final.

While Held fell short of his hopes of qualifying for an individual event at the Olympics for the first time, he has clinched a spot in his second Olympic Games. Enough male swimmers have qualified for the team in multiple events to clinch Held’s inclusion as the fifth-place finisher in the 100 free. Held helped the U.S. men claim gold in the 400 free relay, but was left off the 2021 Olympic team despite finishing sixth in the 100 free, a roster crunch knocking off the lowest-finishing relay swimmer. But Held has gotten his redemption this time.

Andrew, meanwhile, saw his best chance to qualify for his second Olympics vanish. Andrew won silver at the 2022 World Championships, and his pre-meet time of 21.41 was second-best in the field, but Andrew did not come close to that time in Indianapolis. He remains the American-record holder in the 100 breaststroke, but he took eighth in that event earlier this week, fading to a time two seconds off his best time.

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Kanga1

1 month ago

Glad to see Caleb make an individual selection. The Splash & Dash is shaping up to be fun at Paris!
What I’m especially interested in is his 100m fly. Hope he breaks 50 seç in the Trials final!