Dressel Throws Down 17.71, Fastest 50 Free Split Ever

by Robert Gibbs 29

March 24th, 2017 News, Previews & Recaps

2017 MEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Florida junior Caeleb Dressel anchored Florida’s 200 medley relay this morning with an unprecedented 17.71, giving him sole ownership of the fastest split ever.  Dressel had previously tied Vladimir Morozov with a 17.86 while swimming on Florida’s 200 free relay at last month’s SEC Championships.

While Dressel has been a model of consistency in his flat start times, going 18.23 for the 3rd time last night, today’s split was a whole 0.15 seconds faster than Dressel’s previous best time with a relay start.

Dressel was already the only man to ever split under 18 seconds multiple times, and this is now his fourth effort under that mark.  He hit 17.90 anchoring this relay at SECs, then tied Morozov’s 17.86 on the 200 free relay there.  Yesterday morning Dressel clocked 17.99 in the prelims of the 200 free relay, before switching to the leadoff leg for finals.

Tonight will give Dressel one more chance to improve his time, as his split this morning helped Florida secure a 4th place finish in prelims and a spot in tonight’s championship final.  Dressel will also be competing in the individual 100 fly tonight after winning the 50 free yesterday.

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CKidd
7 years ago

Missed it. Looked for a video with no success. Anyone know where I can find a video of this race?

tattoo
7 years ago

why is he removing his shoulder eagle tattoo?

Don\'t Worry About it
7 years ago

He was 9.31 on the second 25 of that, if he had done that last night he would have been 18.11.

outside smoke
Reply to  Don\'t Worry About it
7 years ago

and also last night if he’d been out 8.70 like last year, could knock it down to 18.01. dude just has to put it all together! he’s so close!

Person
Reply to  outside smoke
7 years ago

He’s still got next year. He can go consistent 18.2-18.4s just because he’s that fast, and obviously he’s capable of an 18.0, but that takes the perfect race to do. I don’t think he’ll every be consistently 18.0-18.1, but hopefully he’ll hit that mark at some point. 17.9? Still not out of the question

aquajosh
Reply to  outside smoke
7 years ago

He said in the post-race interview that he was sloppy off the dive, didn’t get a good second breakout, and completely missed his finish, so he has room to improve.

schwimmr
Reply to  aquajosh
7 years ago

must have a good turn! wonder if he has an exact stroke count?

SwimGeek
7 years ago

I know this is more of a TMZ question …. but in looking at the picture with this story, is Dressel erasing his eagle tattoo? Looks like a new gator on the forearm, but the eagle is almost gone.

tattoo
Reply to  SwimGeek
7 years ago

wondering the same thing. it was a pretty epic tattoo

Jim
7 years ago

Not to use the ol’ “Ricky Bobby” mentality that, “If you ain’t first, you’re last”, but since Florida doesn’t really have a chance to win the medley, we not push the limit of the exchange. He’s still +.17 on that exchange. He gets that down .15, suddenly he’s 17.56. Who cares if the relay false starts, difference between 3rd/4th and what would be 8th in the heat (I know, no medal or team points)

Peter Davis
Reply to  Jim
7 years ago

Tight team race for third. A false start would needlessly jeopardize that, and put Florida immediately in line for 5th place as a team. A top 3 relay finish probably nets coach a few thousand $ or more in bonus money, depending on how good their contract is. A top 3 team finish multiple times that. Why jeopardize all that for a tenth of a second on one relay split?

DLswim
Reply to  Jim
7 years ago

This is crazy. You want your team to do as well as possible, and sacrificing a huge number of points and a top-3 finish for an individual relay split doesn’t make any sense.

E Gamble
Reply to  Jim
7 years ago

Caeleb is not swimming to swim 17s…..he’s swimming to help his team win or get their best possible finish. NCs is a team meet. If the team wins, they all get team rings.

Back2Back
7 years ago

Speed Thrills!!!

ERVINFORTHEWIN
7 years ago

he is gonna Be Huge comes the 50 free at trials ……

dressels suit
Reply to  ERVINFORTHEWIN
7 years ago

21.27 this june

mcmflyguy
Reply to  ERVINFORTHEWIN
7 years ago

thanks to SNL i can only imagine alec baldwin playing trump when you say “huge”

Jhony bravo
7 years ago

17.68 tonight

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