I recently caught up with 10x Olympic medalist Caeleb Dressel to get his perspective on where he’s at with his swimming. Dressel said he’s still figuring out if and how he wants to keep swimming and what that will look like moving into this year and the rest of the quad.
Specifically, when asked if he will swim at the 2028 US Olympic Trials, Dressel said he’s made some phone calls to people who have competed at the highest level and had kids. Dressel’s seeking counsel and approaching this methodically, and he said he would love to swim through 2028, but he’s still uncommitted as there are many moving pieces to put into place.
He will never come out a say he is completely done before 2028. The speculation alone will keep him relevant and be a revenue source.
This guy is doing weird Pokemon livestreams at 11 PM on weeknights. He’s definitely a goner.
You have any idea what Anthony Ervin was doing between 2003 & 2011? I don’t think late evening Pokémon streams mean much at this time.
Eh, kids are in bed. So what?
Sounds very similar to Peaty’s recent comments.
Would love to see a Dressel & Peaty redemption arc in LA 28, but their respective mental happiness is what’s important here.
Both probably want that golden hurrah but realise top level Olympic sport doesn’t wait for anyone regardless of your last success. Is it worth going through another 4 years of intense training and time away from children in search of this when nothing is guaranteed? Or is it worse living with that regret of not giving it one more crack like Phelps did in Rio?
Just doing the 50s events is the solution for both of them? Meaning that getting that 50s events addition proposal approved is now more important than ever for older athletes.
Please, no more 50s. Sprinters already have a big advantage over distance swimmers when it comes to recognition (Ledecky aside), not to mention many more medal opportunities, given relays.
And they’re boring. Give me the 800m medley relay instead.
It is really early now and he could do virtually nothing all this year and still make a comeback in 2026 and 2027 to be ready for LA. It is a shame that other swimming competitions lack the power of the Olympics to motivate swimmers like Dressel who have already won it all. Were the ISA still intact perhaps he’d be more keen to get back in the water sooner.
He’s seemingly so family-focused. I’m not convinced he would take part in the ISL unless it was in the US. Then again, a big bag of money waved in his face could be very convincing.
I tend to agree that there’s not much that could pull him out. Though, I think I could see him doing ONLY the ISL and drop the international stuff if it were a fairly compact season that didn’t require him being away from home for 6 months straight.
I think his leadership on the 28 Team would be more valuable than his performance in the pool. Would love to see him return to 2019-2021 form, but at this point, it’s safe to say that he has other things on his mind and being 100% dedicated to in the water results probably isn’t what he’s focused on (and that’s ok!).
This will probably never happen, but would love to see USOPC/ USAS have “honorary captains” for the 28 Team. Why not have some figureheads give guidance and support for a home Olympics? I understand the argument for wanting captains to be members of the actual 28 Team, but this is a once in a generation opportunity for all… Read more »
man I hope he just focuses on the 50. It would take less training which means more family time, and he could focus on pure power. I think he could absolutely break 21, and the WR, if he ditched the 100s and did something like McEvoy
Fair, but going for the 50 like that may actually take more specified focus and mental energy and require more motivation to follow through effectively? I’m just curious if that’s what he wants? But that would be cool to see.
Especially if they add the 200 relays😉
How’s the 50 events addition for Olympics coming along? Any new rumors?
I wish i could set up an automatic reply that responds to any Dressel slander with “5 gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics”
Don’t hold your breath. We hoped the same for Emma McKeon. 4 gold and 3 bronze in Tokyo. People forget how good she was or they accuse her of nefarious activities because she was on the wrong side of 25.
Caeleb can do whatever he wants, I wish him the best, and I hope he finds happiness and joy with whatever that turns out to be.