Caeleb Dressel of the Bolles School Sharks led the field this morning in the 50 freestyle at Phillips 66 National Championships, setting a new 17-18 national age group record of 21.85. The old record was a 22.20 set by Paul Powers last August, and before that, Dressel himself held the record at 22.22.
The time makes him the sixth fastest man in the world this year, even counting the swims from this week at FINA World Championships. He is now the second fastest American in the world this year, trailing Nathan Adrian’s 21.37 posted earlier this week.
Dressel was the only swimmer this morning to crack 22. He was followed by Josh Schneider of the New York Athletic Club (22.10), Cullen Jones of SwimMac (22.11), Michael Chadwick of SwimMac (22.25), and Wyatt Ubellacker of Bernal’s Gator Swim Club (22.27). The full results of the 50 free preliminaries are here.
The University of Florida sophomore has had an eventful year. In March, he won the NCAA championship in the 50 freestyle event (18.67), and he was a member of four top-five relays for the Gators.
Dressel’s late birthday serves him well. Next week, on August 16th, he will turn 19.
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I wanted to see 21.90 and 48.50 from Dressel this week.
Already done for the 50 free.
Now the 100.
21.4 next year.
21.7 tonight