Performance Of The Week: Caeleb Dressel’s 50 Freestyle

It’s clear there was one swim that swimming fans across the country (and, more than likely, also across the world) have not stopped talking about: Caeleb Dressel’s monstrous 18.23 in the 50 freestyle from the SEC Championships last week. There’s no question that this swim was the best performance from this week, and that gets clearer as you look at this young sophomore’s swim.

To begin, Dressel started off by breaking the existing SEC, American, and NCAA records in the 50 freestyle in prelims, producing the fastest time ever in the event when he touched in 18.39. He then backed it up by dropping .16 from that swim when he won the final in 18.23 at night. That gives him the two fastest times ever recorded in the 50 yard freestyle, all at a meet where Dressel claims he was rested less than last year and wasn’t even shaved for the meet.

At SEC’s last year as a freshman, Dressel recorded times of 18.89 and 18.93 en route to a second place finish behind Alabama’s Kristian Gkolomeev, who won in 18.64 in finals. Dressel ultimately won the event at NCAA’s, posting a time of 18.67 in finals to take the title. That suggests Dressel may still have more to drop in this event, which makes the thought of a 17 second flat start 50 freestyle a possibility.

To add more drama to this performance, the time that Dressel swam in prelims was exactly what Head Coach Gregg Troy had said it would take for him to shave his mustache earlier this year. Troy not only kept his promise, but allowed Dressel himself to do the honors.

Congratulations to Caeleb Dressel for earning the Swimming World Performance of the Week!

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B Cubed

8 years ago

This is a mind-boggling time. His swim was close to perfect in so many ways, but what’s equally amazing is that he is at a stage of development where he can shave a bit more off that time before age begins to take a toll. Ha. 19 years old. What an amazing aqua comet.