U.S. International Team Trials: Caeleb Dressel Nearly Breaks 50 in 100 Butterfly Prelims

Caeleb Dressel -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. International Team Trials: Caeleb Dressel Nearly Breaks 50 in 100 Butterfly Prelims

Caeleb Dressel has already qualified for the World Championships in the 100 freestyle and 50 butterfly, but he has yet to approach his best form at the U.S. International Team Trials in Greensboro. That’s not a surprise given that Dressel took an extended break from serious training after the Olympics, and Dressel did not need to be at his best to successfully qualify for Worlds in all his primary events. But on Thursday morning, Dressel unleashed his first “Whoa” swim of the meet as he nearly got under the 50-second barrier in the 100 butterfly.

Swimming in the final heat of prelims, Dressel was out in 23.50, more than seven tenths quicker than what any other swimmer in the heat swam on the first length, and he came back in 26.51, also the quickest split in the field. He finished in 50.01, the fastest time in the world so far in 2022. Dressel easily beat the previous world-leading time of 50.86 set by Japan’s Naoki Mizunuma.

Finishing second in the morning session was Trenton Julian, already a member of the World Championships team after placing second in the 200 fly and fourth in the 200 free. Julian swam a time of 51.11 to crush his previous best time of 51.70. Another Cal-trained athlete, Dare Rose, qualified fourth in 51.70, and Rose also swam a lifetime best by a significant margin (more than a second from his previous mark of 52.84).

Michael Andrew qualified third in 51.57. Andrew has not yet qualified for Worlds, but most of his best events are still to come. Andrew was second to Dressel by three hundredths in Wednesday evening’s 50 fly final.

Luca Urlando, the 200 fly winner, took fifth in 51.72, while Shaine Casas placed sixth in prelims in 51.75. Casas qualified for Worlds Wednesday by virtue of his second-place finish to Ryan Murphy in the 200 backstroke. Zach Harting (51.99) and Maxime Rooney (52.00) also got into the A-final.

Thomas Heilman, the 15-year-old rising star from Cavalier Aquatics, finished 12th in prelims in 52.87, which knocked four tenths off his previous lifetime best of 53.27. Heilman moved into fourth in U.S. history among 15-16 boys for the 100 fly, trailing only Urlando, Andrew and Justin Lynch. Heilman swam a tenth faster than Michael Phelps ever did in the age group.

Tom Shields, who placed second to Dressel in the 100 fly at last year’s Olympic Trials and then qualified for the semifinals of the event in Tokyo, ended up well out of the mix in 32nd place.

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