Caeleb Dressel No-Shows 100 Free, Won’t Swim Any Primary Races at U.S. Open

2019 U.S. OPEN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• December 4th-7th, 2019
• McCauley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia
• LCM (50m), Prelims/Finals
• Psych sheets
• Pre-scratch timeline
• Live stream (all sessions beside A finals on Friday/Saturday)
• Live results

There were a few big names that scratched out of races pre-session on Saturday at 2019 U.S. Open Championships, including Olympic gold medalist Ryan Held, who is sick, but those pre-session scratches paled in comparison to the list of big names who declared false starts or no-showed races on Saturday morning, leaving several empty lanes in the ‘A’ flight of the racing.

The biggest name to no-show a race is Caeleb Dressel, who sat out the 100 free, where he is the defending World Champion. Dressel did swim his other Saturday morning race, the 200 fly, where he posted a 1:59.37 to sit in 10th place after the ‘A’ flight of racing, which should leave him in the B final on Saturday evening. That 200 fly swim is about 3 seconds slower than his best.

Dressel was never entered in the 50 free at the meet, and also left an empty lane in prelims of the 100 fly, meaning that he didn’t race his 3 primary events at the meet. He did swim a 1:59.97 in the 200 IM and a 1:47.58 in the 200 free. Dressel is schedule to race at the ISL finale in 2 weeks for the Cali Condors, and so we’ll see then if this is simply a sign that he’s saving his winter rest for that meet, or if he’ll train straight through to Omaha.

On the women’s side, the big absence is Ella Eastin, who left empty lanes in both the 200 back and 200 fly, after leading 2 empty lanes in the 200 free and 100 back on Friday. She did swim her first 2 races of the meet, the 200 IM (6th – 2:13.26) and 400 IM (4:40.12), but has left empty lanes in all of her other races.

Other big names who scratched on Saturday morning:

• Women’s 200 back – Alex Massey, Reilly Tiltmann, Olivia Smoliga, Ella Eastin
• Men’s 200 back – Jeff Hewkirk, Destin Lasco, Gabriel Jett
• Women’s 100 free – Claire Tuggle, Emily Overholt, Regan Smith, Lillie Nordmann, Amy Bilquist, Katie Ledecky, Natalie Mannion, Paige Hall, Meghan Lynch, Gracie Weyant, Tayla Lovemore, Maddie Banic
• Men’s 100 free – Caeleb Dressel, Luca Urlando, Ryan Lochte, Jorge Iga,
• Women’s 200 breast – Bethany Galat, Kate Douglass
• Men’s 200 breast – Gabe Mastromatteo, Nils Wich-Glasen, Richard Funk, Tomas Peribonio
• Women’s 200 fly – Erica Sullivan, Grace Sheble, Emily Overholt, Ella Eastin
• Men’s 200 fly – Nicolas Albiero, Cole Pratt, Khader Baqlah, Tomas Peribonio