Olympic and World Champion Caeleb Dressel competed at the Richmond Pro Swim, surprising fans with a 200 free personal best time, 1:47.4. Training under Coach Gregg Troy, doing hard, honest work in-season, 1:47 is a lightning fast swim. It appears Dressel intends to be ready to race at that distance…if called upon. He did, in fact, confirm that in this interview.
Swimming the 4×200 relay at 2019 World Championships this summer puts Dressel – potentially – in contention for 9 medals:
- 50 free
- 50 fly
- 100 free
- 100 fly
- 4×100 free relay
- 4×100 medley relay
- 4×200 free relay
- 4×100 mixed medley relay
- 4×100 mixed free relay
Racing for 9 medals is a heavy lift, but I think it’s something swim fans would love to see.
In other exclusive news, Dressel confirmed he’s competing in the International Swimming League. ISL is commanding a lot of starpower, and with Dressel on the blocks, that pro league is covering all the bases. Dressel also confirmed he is not competing at the FINA Champions Series. The timing is wrong, and he needs to focus on training.
PREDICTIONS for Dressel’s 200 free split on the relay….if he swims the 4×200 free relay.
- 1:45.5 flying start
If Dressel hits his taper, he’ll be a valuable asset on the 4×200, inching Team USA toward reclaiming gold in that event at the World LC Champs level.
What do you think?
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With how far he is off his 50/100 free and 50/100 fly times right now, I could easily see him blow away a 1:45.5 with a flying start.
1:44+??????
He’s a good swimmer, but extrapolation is dangerous. I’ll be happy if he breaks 1:46 at all. Anything more is icing on the cake.
Also, the distinction between flat start and relay start is often a non-issue when it comes to Dressel, so I’m calling 1:45.8 flat start, leadoff on the relay if he’s on it.
This is a good point. Dressel’s rolling start time on a free relay is probably irrelevant; his flat-start is so good, arguably the best in the world, that putting him anywhere but the leadoff leg would be a waste of his greatest strength.
1 sec per lap = 4 seconds.. With a flying start 3.5 secs.
This isn’t Dean Farris’s prediction video. (But it should be 😉(next week?))
They already did one
Touché
We all know his relay starts aren’t that good.
He’s doing ISL?
He said he’s not
He said he’s not doing the fina series
Then why did you ask
isl and champions series are different