Caeleb Dressel has rediscovered his love for swimming – and with it the success

Here he comes again, just in time. Romance has returned to Caeleb Dressel’s love-hate relationship with swimming, a sport he has often advocated and sometimes avoided over the past five years. This relationship status update is a happy development for the USA’s Olympic medal hopes.

After winning the 50-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic trials on Friday night to secure his first individual ticket to Paris and qualifying first for the finals in the 100-meter butterfly on Saturday, Dressel gave his first group interview in a year. He sounded like a man rediscovering not only his stroke and speed, but also his love of swimming. Just listen to him describe the pool at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“I can’t stress enough how beautiful it is, clean – it tastes good,” he explained. “I know that sounds funny. I’m not trying to be funny. Everything on the water. It’s just beautiful. I mean, absolutely stunning. The markings, the depth, the color, the blocks, everything is beautiful.”

Caeleb Dressel has tried the pool and found it to be good. This seems to be a strong indication that things are moving forward in his world. Not perfect, but positive.

When the seven-time Olympic champion arrived at this NFL stadium, he had as many questions in mind as the venue itself. Two years ago, he disappeared when he suffered a mental breakdown during the 2022 World Championships in Budapest and abruptly left the stadium. After that, he was out of the water for about eight months and it was not at all clear whether he would ever compete again.

He immersed himself in therapy, cautiously resumed training, tried to make the team for the 2023 World Championships, but never came close to that goal. But those first steps on a journey of self-discovery and finding peace with swimming were important. They led to the next steps – more dedicated training and increasingly better performances at a number of competitions this spring.

Still, there was no guarantee that someone vital to the American relay and sprint events—and thus to U.S. swimming’s medal haul as a whole—would be ready to go in Indy. But as it turned out, he was.

“This is a real test,” he said. “This is a really big test. I think I’m doing really well.”

Dressel is no longer the monster he was from 2019 to 2021, when he was breaking world records and collecting medals at international competitions. But he’s still damn fast: he took third place and a relay spot in the 100m freestyle, won the 50m freestyle and established himself as the favorite in the 100m butterfly. He’s getting better and better as this competition progresses.

“It’s a lot of work,” he said. “And there were parts of this competition where I had some really low points. There were parts in my hotel room that weren’t on camera. The conversations with my wife (Meghan) and with my therapist, it wasn’t smooth sailing the whole time. I know you all can see the smiles. And I’m working on it. I try to find those moments and then really enjoy them. It’s just been fun. I really feel like I love the sport.”

At 27, Dressel is watching the next generation of sprint stars rise to challenge and occasionally beat him, and he’s mostly happy with that.

Jack Alexy (21) managed a time of 47.08 seconds in the preliminary round of the 100 m freestyle, the fastest time ever run by an American other than Dressel. Chris Guiliano (20) won the competition in 47.38 seconds and also made it into the Olympic team in the 50 and 200 m.

“I think early on in my career it was probably about how long I could be dominant,” Dressel said. “And that’s still a little bit of my mindset, but I think it’s changing a little bit to what can I show this younger generation with Jack and Chris. I mean, I’ve been next to them for almost every round of this competition. What can I do to show them my appreciation? They’re actually capable of doing that. So maybe I’m at the age right now where I can show these younger guys something that they thought they wouldn’t.

“When I saw Jack do 47.0, I didn’t want to lose, but it made me happy. I know how exciting it is (to get those times). There aren’t many people who have done that. So I want to be dominant for as long as possible, but there’s a little bit of a shift. I’m not saying I’m giving up, I’m trying to get third, but it’s different.”

Dressel may find himself slipping into elder statesman mode, but not so quickly. His 21.41s in the 50m freestyle ranks him fourth in the world (subject to the European Championships in that event this weekend), so he will be looking to medal in Paris. He may not have come close to his world record of 49.45s in the 100m butterfly this year, but he is one of nine men in the world to have swum 50 points or better in that event this year. And the American men’s 400m freestyle relay team will come to France as favorites after the times they posted in Indy.

“We will get faster,” predicted Dressel. “I’m looking forward to that.”

But first, there’s one more swim here in Indy, the 100 butterfly final. Another chance to feel the embrace of dozens of fans who have been cheering Dressel on to emerge healthy, happy and quickly from his self-imposed exile.

“It’s really nice to feel that from the crowd,” he said. “It’s really special. I didn’t think I would notice it, but it was really nice. You know what? I feel it.”