American swimmer Caeleb Dressel, who announced his first professional suit deal on Thursday morning, has given his fans one more thing to chatter about. With the release of the psych sheets for the 2018 U.S. National Championships on Thursday afternoon, we now know that there’s at least a chance that Dressel will swim a breaststroke or IM race at Nationals.
Dressel is entered in 8 events at the meet. That includes his primary races, the 50 free, 100 free, and 100 fly, in which he is the defending World Champion. It also includes the 50 fly, which he swam at Worlds last year but finished 4th, the 200 free, the 50 breaststroke, the 100 breaststroke, and the 200 IM.
Those latter three events carry the most intrigue, as we’ve never seen Dressel swim them in a championship meet in long course. He dazzled us in the spring at the SEC Championships when he swam a 50.03 in the 100 yard breaststroke, which at the time was the fastest ever (Ian Finnerty would break that time at NCAAs), and a 1:38.13 in the 200 yard IM, which is still the best time ever.
His long course bests in those events are:
- 50 breast – 27.89
- 100 breast – 1:02.26
- 200 IM – 2:01.19
He’s actually the last-seeded LCM swimmer in the 50 and 100 breaststroke, because his best time in the qualifying period is 1:03.28, which is a mere .01 seconds faster than the qualifying standard.
Remember that, while swimmers can expand their lineup to ‘whatever they want’ for Pan Pacs, with coaches’ permission, only the winner of the 50 stroke races at nationals get a free pass to the World Championships (because there are no stroke 50s at Pan Pacs). The 2nd spot in those events usually goes to the fastest qualifier in the equivalent 100 for first-refusal.
Potential Dressel Schedule, with Pre-Scratch Prelims Timeline:
Day 1, Wednesday, July 25th:
- 100 free (10:08AM) – #1 seed, 47.17
Day 2, Thursday, July 26th:
- 200 free (9:35AM) – #8 seed, 1:47.45
- 50 fly (12:15PM) – #1 seed, 49.86 (based on 100 time)
Day 3, Friday, July 27th:
- 100 fly (11:03AM) – #1 seed, 49.86
- 50 breast (11:28AM) – #49 seed, 1:03.28 (based on 100 time)
Day 4: Saturday, July 28th
- 100 breast (10:56AM) – #54 seed, 1:03.28
Day 5: Sunday, July 29th
- 200 IM (9:39AM) – #18 seed, 2:01.98
- 50 free (10:17AM) – #1 seed, 21.15
It’s interesting the way that the schedule works out. The two events where he has some pressure, via needing a top 4 finish, at Nationals to make relays at Pan Pacs, are the first two events on his schedule. If he makes the team in the 100 free, where he’s the top seed by almost 7-tenths of a second, that leaves him with free reign to ‘try’ whatever events he wants at Nationals (and his entries at SECs indicates he’s not afraid to try where the stakes are lower). Even if he doesn’t, he’s still got the fall-back of the 100 fly before the breaststroke or IM races begin.
The schedule is almost begging Dressel to try at least one of those ‘off-races.’
The 2018 US National Championships begin on July 25th.
My predictions. 50 free: 21.3 100 free: 47.5 200 free: 1:46.0 50 fly: 22.8 100 fly: 50.5 50 breast: 26.5 100 breast 58.5 200 IM: 1:56. I also predict he will go faster at pan pacs
Agree with everything but the breaststroke’s bit to fast. 100: 59.5 and 50: 27:2
Im going to go out on a limb and say that an 8.5 second difference between short course and long course isnt that big of a stretch for him so 58.5 may be somewhat reasonable.
I think he only has a chance in the 100 fly, 50 fly, and 50 free. I don’t think he’s going to even come close to Kalisz in the IM. Like most sprint freestylers he probably has a great under water pullout but a mediocre breaststroke, so yeah. Nathan Adrian will probably win the 100 free and given the 200 LCM free is more like the 500 SCY free, I don’t see him being top 4. Lets be realistic it’s not healthy for someone to be under as much pressure as he is.
What? Why do you favor Adrian over dressel right now
how the hell am I supposed to wait til Wednesday for this?
We the fans are also begging him to try an off event.
Caeleb is fast, don’t get me wrong, but the hype needs to slow a tad down. I see him breaking world records in the 50 free, 50 fly and 100 free at some stage in his career. But for the love of god and we stop saying that he can give Adam Peaty, a man who is about a second and a half faster then the next fastest breaststroker, a race. It comes across as delusional. Caeleb has yet to put anything to base this opinion on. His 50.0 SCY was all walls and Ian Finnerty broke it at NCs, never hear that Peaty and Finnerty would be a good race despite Finnerty actually putting up a faster PB then… Read more »
Who peed in your cornflakes?
Just stating the facts
Probably a salty Brit
He’s not going to break a record in the 100 Fly? The event he’s closest to the WR in?
At this rate I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dressel give the mile a shot. He’s the fastest 50 freestyler scy EVER! All he has to do is do 15 more of them to complete the 1650scy!
(1×50) + (15×50) = 800
New to swimming? 😉
New to Math?
It’s actually really smart to do this at Nationals where he’ll have top-level competition but not be completely rested. All he has to do is qualify for Pan Pacs in day 1 and he can swim any event he wants to there. If he can pull off all eight events now and do them well, he’s setting himself up for a very ambitious program in 2020 and he’ll know he can handle it.
A Dressel vs. Peaty 50 breast is something we all need to see.
Not really