Caeleb Dressel finished third in the 100 freestyle final in the fastest time of 2024 for the Clay High graduate. However, he will not be able to defend his Tokyo Olympics 100 free gold medal after U.S. Olympic Trials action continues this week. Dressel made his third U.S. Olympic swim team as a relay member, thus far, with the 50 free and 100 butterfly still to be done.
Dressel, 27, hit splits of 47.82 for prelims and 47.53 for his semifinal to stay in the top three of both swims and finished with a final 47.53 time to finish third behind Chris Guiliano of Notre Dame, who won at 47.38 and Jack Alexy of California, runnerup at 47.47.
In the 50 free prelims the next morning, Thursday, Dressel qualified for the 50 free semifinals with a fifth-best time of 22.00 seconds with the top six finishers all under 22.00 seconds; Michael Andrew and Guiliano both clocked in at 21.70 with Alexy second-best at 21.74. The 50 free semifinals will be staged Thursday night. Dressel will stay busy with the 100 butterfly prelims on Friday morning.