Dressel Shatters 100 Butterfly Olympic Record in 49.71, Milak Under Old Record

2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• When: Pool swimming: Saturday, July 24 – Sunday, August 1, 2021
  • Open Water swimming: Wednesday, August 4 – Thursday, August 5, 2021
• Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
• Heats: 7 PM / Semifinals & Finals: 10:30 AM (Local time)
• Full aquatics schedule
• SwimSwam Event Previews
• Entry Lists

American Caeleb Dressel broke the Olympic Record in the 100 butterfly for the second time in less than 24 hours, shortly after Hungarian Kristof Milak also took down the mark. 

During prelims, Dressel swam a time of 50.39 to tie former Bolles’ School teammate Joseph Schooling’s Olympic Record. 

Then, during tonight’s first semifinal, Milak, the 200 butterfly world record holder, took down Dressel’s mark with a time of 50.31. For Milak, his swim came just a tenth over his best time of 50.18, putting himself in strong contention for a medal in the final. 

However, Milak’s record did not last for long as Dressel brought it into a new territory in the second semifinal. Pushing world record pace the entire race, Dressel posted a time of 49.71 to outpace the rest of the field by a half second. 

Splits Comparison:

Although Milak and Dressel both closed in 26.5, Dressel was out significantly faster at the 50 meter mark with his time of 23.2. Dressel is notorious for his opening speed, which paid off in this race.

Dressel’s time ranks as the 3rd fastest swim in history, only trailing his own performances. 

Top-5 Swims All-Time:

1. 1. Caeleb Dressel 49.50 (2019) 
   2. Caeleb Dressel: 49.66 (2019) 
   3. Caeleb Dressel: 49.71 (2021)
   4. Caeleb Dressel: 49.76 (2021)
   5. Michael Phelps: 49.82 (2009)

In prelims, Dressel was coming off of an emotional 100 freestyle final, where he won his first individual Olympic gold medal and set a new Olympic Record. During his post race interview, Dressel was tearful while seeing his family over FaceTime.