Still Cool A Week Later: Watch Dressel’s 49.66 100 Butterfly From Under Water

2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
• Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
• The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
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No, this is not Caeleb Dressel‘s World Record performance in the 100 butterfly. That time, posted in the semifinals, stands at 49.50. This swim is from the finals when Dressel repeated as World Champion, posting the 2nd-fastest time ever in the 100 fly with a 49.66, still more than a second ahead of silver medalist Andrey Minakov from Russia.

Reported by James Sutherland:

One day after breaking a 10-year-old world record in the men’s 100 fly, Caeleb Dressel backed it up by winning the gold medal with the second-fastest swim in history.

Dressel claimed the final in a time of 49.66, just shy of his 49.50 from the semi-finals. He bumps his 50.36 from the Swim Meet of Champions last month out of the all-time top-10, as he still owns six of the top-10 swims ever, but now also seven of the fastest 11.

After becoming the first swimmer ever with multiple sub-50 swims yesterday, he’s now the first to do it three times.

ALL-TIME PERFORMANCES, MEN’S 100 FLY:

1. Caeleb Dressel (USA), 49.50 — 2019
2. Caeleb Dressel (USA), 49.66 – 2019
3. Michael Phelps (USA), 49.82 – 2009
4. Caeleb Dressel (USA), 49.86 – 2017
5. Milorad Cavic (SRB), 49.95 – 2009
6. Milorad Cavic (SRB), 50.01 – 2009
7. Caeleb Dressel (USA), 50.07 – 2017
8. Caeleb Dressel (USA), 50.08 – 2017
9. Michael Phelps (USA), 50.22 – 2009
10. Caeleb Dressel (USA), 50.28 – 2019
11. Caeleb Dressel (USA), 50.36 – 2019

Defending his title from 2017, Dressel becomes the fourth man in history to repeat in this event. He joins Ian Crocker (2003-2005), Michael Phelps (3 – 2007-2011), and Chad Le Clos (2013-2015).

SPLIT COMPARISON

Looking at the splits from his three 49-second swims, he was out over two-tenths slower than the semis in 23.09, and then came back a tenth quicker in 26.57. When he went 49.86 in Budapest, he closed the fastest of all three swims in 26.55.

This swim marked an impressive double, as not long prior he won gold and set a new textile world recordin the 50 free final in a time of 21.04. He won both events during the same session in Budapest as well, except there they were reversed (with the 100 fly coming first).