Caeleb Dressel capped off the emotional US Olympic qualifying swim with a powerful win in the 100m butterfly on Saturday and is now preparing to defend her title again at the Paris Games after a long break from the sport.
Dressel took control with his typical explosive start, led at the wall and won in 50.19 seconds, while 17-year-old Thomas Heilman took second in 50.80 seconds.
Heilman had already won the 200m butterfly, making him the youngest male swimmer from the United States to secure an Olympic spot since 15-year-old Michael Phelps and 17-year-old Aaron Pierson competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
He flew to the finish on the first outside lane, beating 21-year-old Dare Rose by four hundredths of a second.
“That’s really the hardest part,” Dressel said of the exciting U.S. qualifying competitions, where only the top two finishers in each discipline can secure an individual Olympic spot.
“It’s hard to get into the team here, and that’s how it should be,” said Dressel, who won five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, confirming his superstar status, but abruptly retired from the sport in 2022.
“I think I’ve felt every emotion I’m capable of,” Dressel said of the rollercoaster nine-day trials that took place this year in the stunning, potentially intimidating atmosphere of Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.
“It’s tough. So the motto is one blow at a time. You have to turn the switch on, then turn it off, and then you can go to bed. So I’m glad I’m done,” said Dressel, who was cheered on this week by his wife, Meghan, and their 4-month-old son, August.
Kate Douglass added an impressive win in the 200m individual medley in 2min 06.79sec to her victories in the 100m freestyle and 200m breaststroke this week.
Alex Walsh finished second with a time of 2:07.86, and the pair travel to Paris aiming to improve on their performance at the pandemic-postponed Tokyo Olympics, where Walsh took silver and Douglass bronze behind Japanese gold medalist Yui Ohashi.
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