Caeleb Dressel‘s 18.23 American record in the 50 yard freestyle puts him well above other top competitors, but it also puts him in contention of being one of the fastest 50 sprinters ever.
While Dressel’s speed in the 50 yard freestyle is unparalleled, most of the world competes in short course meters during the short course season, and long course meters year-round.
Growing up in the United States, Dressel has no record of ever swimming a short course meters 50 free, and his personal best time in the long course 50m freestyle is a 21.53 from the 2015 U.S Nationals in San Antonio. That time itself is very impressive, but it seems as though Dressel has shown some big improvement since the summer.
Using the Speedo Time Converter on SwimSwam, Dressel’s new American record in short course yards translates to a 20.23 in short course meters and a 21.03 in long course meters.
Based on his conversion times, Dressel would be the third fastest 50m freestyler of all time in the long course pool behind only suited swims from world record holder Cesar Cielo and Fred Bousquet.
The fastest textile time ever recorded in the long course pool was a 21.19 by Florent Manaudou at the 2015 World Championships. Dressel’s 21.03 conversion would make him the fastest-ever in a textile suit, and the fastest American of all time by a whopping 0.34 seconds.
In the short course meters pool, Dressel’s conversion time would make him the all-time fastest 50m freestyler ever, bettering Manaudou’s 20.26 world record that he set at the 2014 World Championships.
Based on these conversion times alone, if Dressel is able to convert his raw yards speed into meters, he will be one of the best 50m freestylers of all time. If he’s able to swim close to the conversion time at the 2016 Olympic Trials this summer, it will almost guarantee him a spot on the Olympic team and will throw him right in the hunt for gold in Rio.
But just how fast can he go?
The 50m freestyle is precisely 4.28 meters longer than the 50 yard freestyle. During Dressel’s 18.23 performance, he averaged a speed of 2.74 yards per second. Converted that’s 2.5 meters per second. If Dressel was put into a short course 50m freestyle and managed to hold onto that same average speed for the next 4.28 meters, he would touch in at 20-seconds flat.
That time would obliterate the world record by 0.26 seconds.
There’s no telling whether or not Dressel would be able to hold his speed for the extra distance in the short course meters race, or if he can translate his speed fully to the long course pool, but one thing is for sure: Dressel has speed, and he’s going to be dangerous this summer.
we should call him Caeleb Diesel!
Not knowing the first thing about SCY, I have only one question: can he keep that stroke for 50 meters straight without dislocating his shoulders?
Oh no! I believed you had banned from the site these crazy conversions from SCY to LCM! 😆 😆
Could Caeleb Dressel be one of the fastest sprinters ever?
I answer without any doubt: YES!
But which events you talk about?
If you talk about the 50 free, that’s already the case in yards. He’s the fastest ever in yards.
In LCM, he has already swum 21.50 and he should swim at least 21.30 next summer.
On paper, he already looks, maybe with Fratus and Adrian, like the most serious rival for Manaudou.
But right now, only on paper. In San Antonio last summer, he swam a huge new PB well ahead of the… Read more »
If a swimmer does the same start and turn in a 50y and 50m swim, a higher proportion of the yards 50 is gonna be spent at a speed that is higher than free swimming, resulting in a higher average velocity. Using average velocities for this comparison is very flawed. None of the conversion formulas really take this into account, and it’s not something we can look at by doing 50y/18.23 and then using that speed. You’d have to get some precise measurements of his swim speed in the last 5m of each length and use those speeds to estimate the time it would take him to cover the extra 4.28 meters.
So, Could Caeleb Dressel be one of the… Read more »
I am taller than Caeleb Dressel
That’s nice to know :/
Dressel is barely over 6 feet I think
Here is something you might find puzzling. I do believe Caeleb busted out a fast 50 free time, but he needs to do more to prove himself. No, I’m not talking about Olympics or anything like that. I’m talking about his practice attendance. I think he liked to sleep in and a lot of sources confirm this. I want him to go a 17.9, but the way he is training makes me think otherwise. I mean he missed 4 practices this season. That is a lot in the long run. And his coach needs to make him do yards. I’m not talking about little yardage. I mean a lot of sprinting yardage every day. At this point, Hoffer has my… Read more »
First of all, I wish my swimmers only missed four practices in a season. That is a lot to miss in a week. Over the course of six months? Negligible. Over the course of a career (“the long run”)? No way, I have to disagree. If Florida does 8 practices per week on average (that’s conservative, honestly, many programs do more), then Caeleb’s attendance over six months must be somewhere in the neighborhood of 98%.
The process of improving fitness, power, strength, etc. breaks down to stimulus (practice), adaptation (recovery), and then stimulus again, on and on. There comes a point where more work does not necessarily mean the result will be better. The relationship between work and adaptation is… Read more »
I really think Dressel is going to shape up nicely. Ryan Murphy, Conger, Dressel are the future!
What about Kevin Cordes?