2016 Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel has a potentially huge 2017 World Championships schedule. What will he swim? What’s possible? With seven events on the table–before the mix relays–he could be on the blocks all the time in Budapest. Dressel’s answer to this question should make age group coaches and swimmers proud. He says, I’ve done it as an age grouper and at NCAAs. Worlds is no different.
Sure, Dressel popped a great 200m freestyle and performed at a high level throughout U.S. World Championship Trials, but a second taper makes the second competition performance painful–not for everyone, but for most elites. And Dressel is a speed-man. I’m wondering if he’ll swim mixed relays at all. I don’t see the need. What I’m really wondering is if he’ll swim 100 butterfly. It conflicts with the 50m freestyle–Dressel’s baby.
What do you think Dressel will swim at World Championships?
Here what I’d like to see from Dressel at 2017 World Championships:
50 Free Dressel Personal Best – 21.53. We all expected a faster swim at U.S. Trials, and Dressel will surely shave time in Budapest. I’d like to see a 21.26, and I think that wins gold.
100 Free Dressel Personal Best – 47.91. Time for Dressel to be a force here. 47.69 is a fist pumping swim, surely threatens for gold or silver.
50 Butterfly Dressel Personal Best – 23.05. Anything 22, even 22.99, would be great. 50 fly is off my radar to be honest. It’s a test-your-nitro swim. That’s it.
100 Butterfly Dressel Personal Best – 50.8. Anything under 50.8 is a success. Dressel’s mind will be in 50 free mode (and 50 free conflicts with 100 fly). If Dressel swims it, and if he makes the final, that’s a big step forward. I think Dressel’s more of threat in the 100 fly – globally (aka against Bolles teammate Joseph Schooling) – later in the quad.
What do you think?
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Nathan is a great great athlete. But he should come train here for a little while to shift his paradigm a little. It’s a little hard to watch him reach around his bottom hand and then pull half a second later off starts and turns for example. He has a phenomenal early catch — we show it to top age group and senior swimmers I work with — but I have to tell those same swimmers not to watch Nathan’s horrific kick. He’s so strong most people miss it. Watch him under water from the side and you’ll notice Nathan bends his knees on the up (recovery phase of the) kick every time, increasing his drag and fighting himself. Ryan… Read more »
this is ten days old so you probably will not see this but the idea of a straight leg flutter kick being the optimal technique is absurd. No elite freestyler does that. The quads are much more powerful than the hip flexors, and allow the foot to attain a much higher velocity, increasing propulsion.
There’s a webinar on the USA Swimming website where Russel Mark (a former swimmer and aerospace engineer who now works for USA Swimming) breaks down the trends that great freestylers share, and he specifically mentions the power from the kick coming from the knee bend/extension. Not only does his explanation make more sense, but this is a guy with an engineering degree (expertise in physics and… Read more »
that was 26″, not 26′ !!!!
Speaking of vertical jumps, when I was a kid I went to Doc Councilman’s swim camp at University of Indiana. I think I remember them telling us that Mark Spitz’ vertical jump was 26″, and how impressed I was with that at the time- compared to my own miserable mid-distance swimmmer vertical jump of… I won’t say, but suffice it to say that a strength and conditioning coach used to call me “Sally Slowtwitch” !!!
Few calls:
50fr – 21.43 (bronze)
100fr – 47.71 (silver)
50fl – 22.90 (no medal)
100fl – 50.65 (silver)
Gold medals in 4x100fr & 4x100md relays.
Never mind the 200 FR- I can’t wait to see what he can do someday in the 200 IM. Not right now though- his plate is probably almost a little too full. We also need him to be great at 100 Fly for that medley relay come Tokyo.
His 200 IM SCY could be spectacular — 1:38 at least. He has a breaststroke, and even if his back is comparatively weak, he’s got the underwaters.
That wouldn’t shock me at all. He’s a far better SCY swimmer than Nolan ever was and he’s clearly capable of throwing down big 200s.
He did a 55.8 long course in season in the 100 back. With a taper, he’d probably be a 53 high-54 low. He would be one hell of a 200 IMmer, and I think we will all see that at some point.
Why put pressure on the kid, he could win seven gold medals or he could medal in every event, the 50s are a raffle really, one mistake and gold can become 4th!
In other Gator news, charges that Lochte falsely reported a crime were dropped in Brazil. With what’s going on today, unbelievable that Lochtegate was the biggest deal ever last summer. Timing is everything.
Good. I remember my cousin, Attila the Hunt, went apoplectic on these boards about Lochte and the other “punks,” as he called them, and about what a “national embarrassment” the incident was. I think the goal post on that, to use a phrase used today, has been moved quite a bit since then.
I’m thinking back to his in-training Arena Pro swim where he doubled the 100 fly (52.2, barely lost to Conger) and 100 free (49 low, with strong Dressel-esque last 15 meters) 20 min later. The guy is not normal. Aside from his explosiveness, his recuperative powers are incredible — a sprinters version of Phelps. On DAY 4 of NCAAs, he dropped 4 100 frees of 41.0 or better between prelims and finals of the 100 free and the 400 free relay. That was Day 4. We’ve never seen that type of recuperative capacity in a sprinter.