Caeleb Dressel Raced in his First Meet This Season… What Does it Mean? | DEEP DIVE

2023 SPEEDO ATLANTA CLASSIC

Caeleb Dressel swam at the Atlanta Classic over the weekend, his first meet in almost a year. He clocked times of 52.4 in the 100 fly, 22.5 in the 50 free, and 50.2 in the 100 free.

At first glance, these times might not look so great. But we go back and look at Dressel’s results at this time in the season over the last 6 years, comparing how he swims in May to how he swims at the end of the summer.

Using history as a guide, it looks like Dressel could be on pace to have a great showing at World Champ Trials (if he does in fact compete in Indy).

In This Story

100
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

100 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Beginner Swimmer at 25
10 months ago

Great video Coleman thanks for the work you put in. Looking at the Pro Swim Series Des Moines right before COVID hit Dressel seemed to be on an insane trajectory with that 50.9 100 fly and 21.5 50 free and he could have reached even peaked higher off the back of his gargantuan performances at Gwanju.

As Caeleb stated in the Graham Bessinger video: to lose a year from COVID with a postponed olympics and the affects it has on the training and preparation it must of taken a lot of mental fortitude to recover from that. We are so quick to judge when we don’t know how hard it is be under his shoes under that kind of pressure.… Read more »

Last edited 10 months ago by Beginner Swimmer at 25
Trot
10 months ago

Dressel is back!!! I hope he competes in Worlds this summer. It’s awesome that he is back in the pool!!!

Jalen T
10 months ago

This was supposed to be the next Michael Phelps?????? At this point he isn’t even the next RyAn Held LMAO

BOBFROMTHEISLAND
10 months ago

I don’t think it was wise for him to return to competition with what happened at world’s still hanging over his head. To me it would have been best to address it before he started racing again to walk in on a clean slate.

Kind of tired of the speculation to be honest. We know it was mental health reasons. I think after the 100 free prelims at world’s he wasn’t very confident he was going to top the podium with what he saw from Popovici. The strong possibility of losing a year after becoming the Olympic champ and as the face of Team USA probably hit him like a truck and he chose to back out.

Danjohnrob
Reply to  BOBFROMTHEISLAND
10 months ago

You’re tired of speculation, so your solution is to speculate wildly? Makes sense.

IRO
10 months ago

This guy took a pause on the sport before he started college, probably due to feelings of stress and burnout. Seems like that worked out well for him in the long run. He probably needed that after Tokyo but the pressure of being a superstar was on him. Why don’t we just give him some grace and privacy and let him bounce back as best he can? He has achieved it all. Anything else is gravy for him and for us.

CADWALLADER GANG
Reply to  IRO
10 months ago

why are you guys booing at IRO?? they’re right??

PBJSwimming
10 months ago

Nice analysis Coleman! I especially liked your observations about how his in-season 50FR and 100FL vs his 100FR.

GTS
10 months ago

I view this somewhat similarly to the Simone Manuel situation. They’ve both accomplished an incredible amount in their respective careers. They ran into some difficult obstacles. They’re attempting to move forward. Give it time. Comebacks, especially involving a form of burnout, are often not linear.

swimapologist
Reply to  GTS
10 months ago

I guess I see that to some regard. But also, Simone got up on the podium and told us all what happened.

NoFastTwitch
Reply to  swimapologist
10 months ago

She did. And she didn’t walk out in the middle of an international championship meet. I’m not going to criticize CD because I have no idea what he is going through- none of us do – but I do appreciate that many other athletes (including swimmers like Manuel, Phelps and Ervin) have spoken up about the depression that can come along with achievement and expectations.

Sub13
Reply to  GTS
10 months ago

I think a better comparison is Simone Biles, but she handled it better. She quit literally during a team event which essentially ruined her team’s good chances.

She explained what happened, apologised to the disappointed fans and then used the incident to promote better mental health in sports. She basically handled that situation in the best way and I think has actually gained more fans because of it.

Dressel has kind of done the opposite and not even attempted the bare minimum.

Aaa aaa
Reply to  Sub13
10 months ago

And in Biles’ defense, as disappointing as it was for her to quit on her team and take the place of someone else who may have competed, it’s literally physically dangerous and even potentially life-threatening to have the “twisties” and be “off” in her sport. Swimming is not even comparable in that regard.

Jimmyswim
10 months ago

I understand why people were upset about the no show but I don’t really care. Mainly just interested in how he will go at trials. For a deep dive analysis, the analysis in this video was a little lacking. A nice list of in-season times but then just kind of a random conclusion of “so he will swim good times” rather than a logical comparison of times and explanation. Seems like some seasons he is fast in-season and some seasons he is not so anything could happen.

Obviously USA and Australia are yet to have trials, which will shake things up a lot, but China and Canada are leading the world rankings at the moment (China by quite a bit).… Read more »

Last edited 10 months ago by Jimmyswim

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

Read More »