Dressel Breaks 100 Free AR Again In Gold Medal Victory

2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

  • Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
  • Hangzhou, China
  • Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
  • SCM (25m)
  • Prelims: 9:30 am local, 8:30 pm ET / Finals: 7:00 pm* local, 6:00* am ET
  • *The final night of finals will be one hour earlier, starting at 6:00 pm local and 5:00 am ET
  • Live Results (Omega)

For the second time at the Short Course World Championships, Caeleb Dressel broke the official American Record in the men’s 100 freestyle, this time doing it in the final where he won his first individual gold.

On day 1 of the competition Dressel led off the men’s 4×100 free relay in 45.66, lowering the 45.82 mark set by Ryan Held on the prelim relay, and in tonight’s individual final he clocked in at 45.62 for a new record.

Trailing both Vlad Morozov (21.39) and Chad Le Clos (21.59) at the halfway mark with an opening 50 of 21.86, Dressel stormed home with the fastest second 50 in the field (23.76) to beat Morozov out for gold by .02.

After winning silver in the 50 free and 100 fly this is his first individual SC World title, though he does came away with five relay golds at the meet as well.

As has been discussed throughout these Championships, the men’s 100 freestyle is one of the events where the official American Record isn’t actually the fastest swim ever done by an American. In this case, Nathan Adrian swam a time of 45.08 at the 2009 Duel in the Pool. However, at that point in the year USA Swimming had stopped recognizing any swim done with the polyurethane tech suits as official American Records. You can read about that here.

Prior to Held breaking it at the first session of this meet, the record was held jointly by Blake Pieroni and Ian Crocker in 46.25.

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50free
5 years ago

I miss when Caeleb would clap literally everyone off the start like what happened to that.

50free
Reply to  50free
5 years ago

You can go back and watch the 50 at last years wolrd champs. He’s right next to Morozov and gets a half body length of the start. Completely different than what happened here.

anonymous
Reply to  50free
5 years ago

Morozov has had incredible starts and turns during the world cup series. I think everyone learned from what CD did on the starts at World Champs Long Course and adjusted.

samy
Reply to  50free
5 years ago

Morozov improved his underwaters tremendesly during the course of the year. That is mainly why he dropped so much time in short course this year.

Marmot
Reply to  50free
5 years ago

What do you mean? I don’t understand what you’re saying. When did Caeleb Dressel ever clap at his competition during the start or “off the start?” Typically he’s been pretty reserved and usually goes right up and bends over and grabs the blocks and sets his position right away.

Entgegen
Reply to  Marmot
5 years ago

not literally clapping, but beating them on the start

biggy
Reply to  50free
5 years ago

Ppl are getting better at the start. Proud copies dressels form and took his textile wr.

Woke Stasi
5 years ago

What I don’t understand is the enormous 5.72 second gulf between Dressel’s record-setting 100 yard free win earlier this year in 39.90 at NCAAs and his win today in 45.62 at 100 meters. This is a 14.3% difference, for an event that is just 9.4% longer (100 meters/100 yards).

I understand that the last 10% of each length is generally the slowest, but this time difference is greater than I thought would be the case. I should note that both of Dressel’s swims were done “deep” into their respective meets — day 4 at NCAAs (when he also had to swim prelims in the morning), and day 6 at Short Course Worlds (no morning prelims on day 6). Any thoughts?

Cheatin Vlad
Reply to  Woke Stasi
5 years ago

Could be any number of factors, but in your analysis your assuming he’s in the same type of shape and as rested as he was when he went 39.9. He seems to have good endurance at the moment, but doesn’t seem quiet as explosive as he was last year at NCAAs. Maybe there’s a greater plan to get him ready for this summer that’s impacting his speed today.

ITR
Reply to  Woke Stasi
5 years ago

He just isn’t in the same shape. This is indeed too great of difference. I think a top form Dressel should be able to “”fairly easily”” break the WR.

Dudeman
Reply to  Woke Stasi
5 years ago

Swimming doesn’t work like that, it isn’t 100% linear. While the math would indicate he should have swam much faster it doesn’t always apply accurately. It might also be that world records are difficult to break or that he’s still trying to find his 2017 form

Michael j. Mooney
Reply to  Woke Stasi
5 years ago

Maybe he is still recovering from that injury last summer.. .or maybe peaking for next summer and olympics..But yes, where is that pop on the start??

Caleb
Reply to  Woke Stasi
5 years ago

The swims this week are obviously less impressive than his best, but from the outside there’s no way to know if this is disappointing. Could be:
*Hasn’t recaptured form since last summers injury and upheaval of going pro
*not fully rested as sc worlds isn’t such a huge deal – maybe treating it more like an ncaa mid-season invite
*took training break post pan-pacs, before the 2-year Olympic grind
*struggling with time zone difference, etc. (I’m sure one reason he’s at this meet is to practice the routine for the time changeover, with the next big time meets also in Asia)
*some combo of the above

Personally I’m not worried.. I thought he swam pretty… Read more »

Caleb
Reply to  Caleb
5 years ago

Ps I’m actually of mind that his 39.9 was a mild disappointment, not nearly as good a swim as his 17.6 50, or 42.8 fly. Just seemed tired by the end of that meet. I think with all cylinders firing, could have been half a second faster… that would mean an insane scm time, like under 44. Can he ever get there again? Would be fun to see him try, maybe in 2020, post-Olympics!

a fan
Reply to  Caleb
5 years ago

I don’t think dressel can go under 44 in the 100m freestyle. That would be something similar to going 46.0 in LCM

12beatKCk
Reply to  Woke Stasi
5 years ago

I’m a canadian swimmer competing in the us. I specializes in mid distance freestyle and +5.5 seconds per 100 was always the way I converted my times. Dressel’s performance is a close translation to his scy times.

samy
Reply to  12beatKCk
5 years ago

Same here, I am french and the way my times seem to be converting from scy to scm is + 5.5s for 100 free and + 11s for the 200 free.

Woke Stasi
Reply to  samy
5 years ago

@SAMY Using this conversion, does that mean Pieroni and Townley Haas will go 1:41 in the 200 free long course?

Samy
Reply to  Woke Stasi
5 years ago

I think so ( it’s right on Pieroni’s best time) maybe townley can push a 1:40. It would truly impressive

12beatkick
Reply to  Woke Stasi
5 years ago

That’s pieroni’s best time. townley is a beast tho I definitely see him go 1:40 mid-high

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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