Brazilian sprint star and world record-holder Cesar Cielo says he believes young American Caeleb Dressel has the ability to break Cielo’s super-suited world records in the 50 and 100 freestyles.
Cielo said as much at the Jose Finkel Trophy, Brazil’s winter national championship meet, which is taking place this week in Sao Paolo. Globo.com reports that Cielo spoke highly of Dressel, saying he has “full capacity” to break Cielo’s records by 2020 in a rough translation of the original Portuguese.
Cielo’s two world records have been among the hardest to challenge on the men’s side since the banning of rubberized full-body racing suits in late 2009. At the 2009 World Championships in July, Cielo went 46.91 in the 100 free, and five months later, he put up a 20.91 in the 50 free at Brazil’s national championships just weeks before the bodysuit ban took effect. Both world records have stood the 8 years since, and have only been seriously challenged a couple of times.
At the 2017 World Championships, the upstart Dressel swept the 50 and 100 free titles, going 21.15 and 47.17, respectively, in just his second senior-level international swim meet. Dressel’s international debut on the senior stage was the Rio Olympics last summer. Just 20 years old and improving fast, Dressel was the breakout star on the men’s side this summer, winning 7 gold medals in Budapest.
Now, Cielo says Dressel could be the one to finally snap the Brazilian’s incredible world records. Here’s a rough translation of Cielo’s full quote from Globo.com:
“Look, Dressel has put himself in a position to surpass my two world records. You have to overcome the fine tuning, the hard part, those details. I think he has the full capacity to do that. Who knows, by 2020 he may have a new world record in the two races.”
For his part, the 30-year-old Cielo finished 8th in the 50 free at the World Championships in Budapest. He said he’s hoping to return to his best times since the bodysuit era – roughly in the 21.3-range. Cielo went 21.32 in 2013 and 21.39 in 2014, but has been off that mark in the few years since. He told Globo.com that he’s hoping to stay in contention for a medal, and is encouraged that his textile-best would still put him in medal contention based on Budapest results.
You can read Cielo’s full comments in their original Portuguese here.
A. Ervin is the fastest over the water and has the best sprint stroke. Before he retires someone should film him underwater and study his technique.
I like Dressel alot. One of the most gifted swimmers ever and also a super nice dude. However, let the guy and his coach work on this stuff. We don’t need to call him the next Phelps or Biodi or whatever. Nothing in life is ever guaranteed, and no one should take Calaebs preformences so for granted. I think Dressel can be one of the greatest swimmers ever, but life is cruel and often has other ideas. Missy Franklin was shaping up to be the female Phelps, but that all went belly up in 2014.
Lets all appreciate how great Dressel has been so far, and look towards a great future for the guy, but lets not start jumping… Read more »
Wise words- he has had one spectacular world meet, with spectacular times. There is actually no guarantee he will ever better them (I am sure he will, but I hope you get the point). McEvoy and Magnussen have swum textile times that would have left him in their wake over 100m for example, so no one knows what the future holds.
Best of luck to him, but waaaay to early to be doing comparisons to the GOATs.
This. Commenters need to keep in mind that it was pressure and sky-high expectations like the comments we’re seeing here that almost drove him away from the sport entirely.
4 years ago when he was being overwhelmed, I agree it was unfair to talk about it. But he’s put on probably the greatest sprint performance ever in Budapest, going within spitting distance of all 3 WRs. They aren’t expectations anymore, he’s shown results. I don’t think it’s unfair to talk about it now
Should we expect an article from phelps soon stating he believes dresses has the ability to beat his 100 fly
There is no doubt he will break the 100 fly record
….yeah?! We don’t a weatherman to tell us it’s a Summer.
Love jt
Great comment
Imagine dressels start and under water with Ervins top of the water speed. 20.5 ???
Dressel is faster or as fast as Ervin ever was in the water.
20.5 is probably impossible but at age 35 he went 21.4 with an average at best start. Your telling me dressels start and underwater only gave him 0.25 advantage over tony?? Tony has by far the best catch ive ever seen for a sprinter.
Not trying to discredit dressels speed at all, just saying with a less spinny stroke he could still be a lot faster in theory! Which is insane
Even if Cielo never returns to his peak 50/100 free form, he’s still a valuable asset on those relays!
20.91 will be harder to break than 46.91 for Dressel.
The 20,91 to be broken would need to have Dressel first part of the race with Fratus second part (Maybe even Dressel Start + UW + Fratus over the water). If Dressel evolves to have that kind of speed and finish over the water maybe a sub-21..
50 free is one that probably won’t happen. Swimming 100 fly, free 200 free and (maybe even 200im, he’s a 51.8 200 breastroker in scy and went 55 completely untapered and unrested in the 100 back in season this year). Raw speed won’t be the most significant part of his swimming.
That’s it to say he isn as fast over the water as everyone else. Outside of fratus, he probably is the second fastest swimmer over the water. But he would be must faster if he didn’t do so much endurance work. But that’s what gives him his 100 free and fly ability. His hold of speed is 2nd to none. Now he could develop to a point where’s… Read more »
I agree, it would take a near perfect race to take down that WR. The 100 fly & free is much more achievable.
agree with this. Would add that in form Morozov also might be the fastest over the water
Did you guys forget (in-shape) Anthony Ervin?
they did ……..how come ? haha
He doesn’t have to give up on swimming it,is that what you are saying?
Maybe now, but Dressel will keep getting bigger. He’s still a boy. Hopefully he’s working on that base cause if he can keep from getting toooo big he can be the first to have a dominant 50-200.
I think he can be the best in the world in 50, 100, 200, 100 Fly, 200IM. If he can find another stroke or figure out a 200 fly, I think he can beat Phelps’ standard. He’ll probably get 9 golds in Tokyo but it wont really be better than Phelps cause of the mixed relay.
I think we start to see some serious times in the NCAA season in the 200 free and IM. I really won’t be surprised with… Read more »
ok….Dressel has been in Gator strength for three years now – I can see some fine tuning of his strength but he’s not going to get radically stronger. And I highly doubt Dressel will be the best in the world in the 200 free and IM – you think he can beat Sun/Haas/Guy and Kalisz/Hagino?
Guys don’t really really fully mature until like 25, but I don’t really think he will get much stronger, I agree. Most of these guys have enough strength at a young age. Any more is a detriment. That said, his freestyle technique still isn’t that good. He spins his wheels. It’s much better than last year, but he needs to improve that to really unlock his full potential
He doesn’t spin his wheels too much. He said his stroke count per 25 in a 50 yard free is like 7. Also he said he’s very focused on pulling the water more.
Yeah his technique for free is pretty bad he going to have to work on it if he wants a chance of medaling in the 50 or 100 free
Where did I say it was bad? It’s decent but he clearly could Improve it
pretty bad ? how come …..he could surely work on the stroke efficiency but i find it just fine .
Samuel, although I agree with you that it would be hard for Caeleb to win gold in any 200, I actually believe that once he goes pro and starts focusing on lcm he could be a major threat in the 400 free and im. I was talking to Greg Troy, and he said when they did time trials in practice, Caeleb was able to break 15 minutes in a 1650, so clearly the endurance is there.
He’s under Troy. The base will be there. His lack of improvement this year in the 50 free and remarkable progress in the 100 free/fly at NCAAs shows as much. Pan Pacs will be extremely helpful to figure out his event schedule if swimmers are still allowed to enter whatever events they want. I also hope he does 200y free over 50 free at NCAAs even though it means giving up guaranteed 1st place points.
Wow… You don’t want to see the first man ever to break 18 seconds?
Not a problem- he’ll split 17.9 in the 100 🙂
Wow…. yeah no
Keep in mind that Dressel improved his best 50 free time by .4 this summer. I wouldn’t put limits on this guy, he’s done things no one saw coming
Actually it took him 2 summers.
Given his extraordinary strength in the 100 fly, I wonder if Kristof Milak can pull off a strong 100 free in the future. His PB is a 50.09, which is already better than Cseh’s PB of 51.08.
Cseh’s PB is 50.87 at 2015 worlds.
My comment is referring to the 100 free. It is quite surprising that Cseh has a faster 100 fly than 100 free though.
Well he doesn’t train free at all I assume so…
I doubt he swims it much at a big meet.