Caeleb Dressel of the Bolles School Sharks and University of Florida won his first national championship and set a new National Age Group record in the 50 free this evening at the Phillips 66 National Championships in San Antonio, Texas.
His winning time of 21.53 broke his own record time of 21.85, which he set this morning in the preliminary heats. Dressel previously had the record until Paul Powers broke it last August with a 22.20. That means in one day, Dressel lowered the NAG by 0.67 seconds.
More significantly, that now gives Dressel the third-fastest time time in the world this year, behind Florent Manaudou of France and Nathan Adrian of the United States, the two of whom finished 1-2 at the the FINA World Championships earlier this week.
2014-2015 LCM Men 50 Free
MANAUDOU
21.19
| 2 | Nathan ADRIAN | USA | 21.37 | 08/07 |
| 3 | Caleb DRESSEL | USA | 21.53 | 08/08 |
| 4 | Bruno FRATUS | BRA | 21.55 | 08/08 |
| 5 | Vladimir MOROZOV | RUS | 21.56 | 08/08 |
To give a little more context, Dressel’s time this evening would have been the fastest time in the finals of the 2012 USA Olympic Trials, ahead of both Cullen Jones and Anthony Ervin.
This swim tonight also moved Dressel to fifth all-time among USA men in this event, placing him between Garrett Weber-Gale and Ben Wildman-Tobriner.
Dressel set a slew of National Age Group and high school records before moving onto the University of Florida last year, where he’s been training under Gregg Troy. The choice of schools seemed to pay off quickly. In March, he won the NCAA championship in the 50 free with a time of 18.67, just off Adrian’s American Record, and he was a member of four top-five relays for the Gators.
Despite already having a year of college under his belt, Dressel has one more week as an 18 year-old, with a mid-August birthday. His next event will be the 100 free, where he already has the NAG with a time of 48.97, which he swam just after turning 17 in August, 2013.
Can’t wait to watch his 100 free today.
Before the meet I said I would be very pleased with 21.90/48.50
Already 21.53 in the 100 free
48 low in the 100 free would be A M A Z I N G!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt4X6f2-VbU
Oh OH ! This is maybe also slightly showing the end for Ervin on the 50 for next year ! I mean he is gonna have to dig deeper to be qualified . Won’t be eay at all .
Be happy! Your Belgian team is doing big things in Kazan!
too bad he still changes in the bathroom stall..
Pvdh i actually find it hard doing consecutive 50 mainly because you need to get faster each round and any error you lose it you can’t make up for that during the race. And the pressure is something. Horton did amazing on Australia but at worlds…
I mean physically speaking. 50 is relatively easy. mentallly, it can be one of the biggest hurdles and is a huge factor in slowing people down. I believe when dressel makes his first worlds/Olympic team, he not be able to recreate his absolute best, much like everyone else (like you said Horton). But after that I expect him to be a contender.
It’s really funny to see that he beat Gkolomeev in the 50 in LC as well. But oh well let’s see what he has for tomorrow.
Ddias agree with you specially without 3 difficult rounds double is easily.
3 50s in 2 days is not what I call difficult. You know what’s difficult? 200 back and 200 IM back to back. 1500 and 200 back to back.
Wow- 21.53 is moving, let alone for an 18 year old!!
I predict he’ll be 48 low- call it a 48.18- in finals tomorrow in the 100. His 100 hasn’t looked as exceptional as his 50, although with such a drop in the 50 (and a little bit of Gregg Troy training) it’s not unreasonable to expect a best time like that.