Hardcore Swimmer of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based swimmer or water polo player who has proven themselves truly hardcore over the past month. As with any item of recognition, Hardcore Swimmer of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one athlete whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a swimmer who was visibly outperforming other swimmers over the month, or one whose accomplishments slipped through the cracks among other high-profile swims. If your favorite athlete wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.
Could there really be any other selection?
There was no swimmer in the world more on-fire over the past week than Caeleb Dressel. We’ve already gone over as many of his superlatives as we possibly could. He’s tied Michael Phelps for the most golds at a single World Championships (though Phelps did so without the luxury of two mixed relays). He dropped incredible time from U.S. Nationals to Worlds, and he put up mind-numbingly consistent swims through heats, semifinals and finals of his individual events, the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly (His 50 fly final was the one hiccup, which was still very near a best time). You can read more about all that in our story on his FINA Male Swimmer of the Meet award here.
In this case, perhaps the most impressive thing to say is nothing at all, instead letting his swims speak for themselves. So, without further ado, here’s a look at each of Dressel’s World Championship swims chronologically:
| Swim # | Day | Event | Phase | Time/Split | Place | Other |
| 1 | 1 | 50 fly | Heats | 22.97 | Q-2nd | |
| 2 | 1 | 50 fly | Semifinal | 22.76 | Q-1st | American record |
| 3 | 1 | 4×100 free relay | Final | 47.26 | Gold | American record |
| 4 | 2 | 50 fly | Final | 22.89 | 4th | 2nd-fastest swim in American history |
| 5 | 4 | 100 free | Heats | 48.26 | Q-3rd | |
| 6 | 4 | 100 free | Semifinal | 47.66 | Q-2nd | At the time, 6th-fastest swim in American history |
| 7 | 4 | Mixed 4×100 medley relay | Final | fly – 49.92r | Gold | World relay record, 2nd-fastest fly split in history |
| 8 | 5 | 100 free | Final | 47.17 | Gold | American record |
| 9 | 6 | 50 free | Heats | 21.61 | Q-2nd | |
| 10 | 6 | 100 fly | Heats | 50.08 | Q-1st | Textile world record, 3rd-fastest all-time |
| 11 | 6 | 50 free | Semifinal | 21.29 | Q-1st | American record |
| 12 | 6 | 100 fly | Semifinal | 50.07 | Q-1st | Textile world record, 3rd-fastest all-time |
| 13 | 7 | 50 free | Final | 21.15 | Gold | American record, 3rd-fastest all-time |
| 14 | 7 | 100 fly | Final | 49.86 | Gold | Textile world record, 2nd-fastest all-time |
| 15 | 7 | Mixed 4×100 free relay | Final | 47.22 | Gold | World relay record, 2nd-fastest 100 free all-time |
| 16 | 8 | 4×100 medley relay | Final | fly – 49.76r | Gold | Textile world relay record, 2nd-fastest fly split in history |
Oh, and to top it off, since this is Swimmer of the Month, the month of July also includes the final day of U.S. Nationals in which Dressel went 21.75 and then 21.53 to win the national 50 free title.
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Not to take anything away from Dressel, but just a thought :
If Sjostrom were an American, she’d have won 8 golds and 1 silver. And broken 7 WRs.
It’s easier for girls to beat supersuited records considering they’re still wearing suits over the upper body. But I can’t argue her greatness. She’s impossibly good.
Why is my latest posting awaiting moderation? Getting tired of this, SwimSwam. Getting really tired of this.
I was for awhile prior to worlds starting. Started all of a sudden out of nowhere but it has gone away for me
Lane Four – Believe it or not, our staff has too much news to cover to just sit in the comment queu approving comments immediately when they come in. Our system automatically flags certain comments for moderation based on key words or phrases and we approve or delete them as soon as we see them. It’s nothing to take personally; it’s an automated system. As always, patience is the most effective tool you have, and for most people, that is sufficient for dealing with the relatively minor annoyance of waiting a little to see your comment show up on an internet message board.
Jared, thanks for the explanation, but many times I have been moderated when my postings were as vanilla as a posting can be. It isn’t about impatience. It is about being treated like a child for no reason whatsoever.
He said, childishly.
For what it is worth, Caleb may be taking the sport back into the eye of the general public. I actually read an article earlier today saying that Caleb Dressel is going to bring “the sexy” into the sport. Now the mainstream media will be taking a closer look at him and the sport. This is a good thing. We were concerned with Michael gone the sport would vanish from the spotlight. Looks like Caleb is brining it back into center stage for other reasons other than gold medals.
Many major publicantions and websites have picked up stories on him. ESPN mentioned him several times on TV/Website/Radio….it’s pretty great
great insights LANE 4 .
When comparing eras we tend to forget the older swimmers who had many fewer events to swim. We didn’t always have even a 100 & a 200 of each strike at some Olympics
absolutely.
I’d like to see Dressel stay in Europe 1 more week to swim at least at one world cup meet and take advantage of his taper to rewrite a few SCM world records. Just for fun.
oh yeah that would be fun!
Wish that could happen
Me too. The female broadcaster on the NBC clip posted on this site of the 100 fly final did a good job of pointing out how his timing into the 50 wall and the finish were long. If timing were just a little more fortunate, I think he would have made up the 0.04 seconds and claimed the WR. Do you agree?
He goes sub 49.5 with a decent turn and without a long finish
totally agree – it will happen …..maybe at Pan Pacs next year – lets hope so
Tom Shields will be there. Way to represent Tom. ?
He was not even able to win the 50 fly! He’s a joke!
Bobo, are you serious? I hope you’re not ?
*of course you’re joking
Is the mixed relay comment necessary? No definitely not the feat is still impressive either way and he still won 7 gold medals either way
I think it’s mentioned because people want to quickly compare to Phelps, so an important distinction. I personally don’t think there is any need to compare, different swimmers and early days for Dressel.
Necessary comment. Because some idiot people and some idiot media make the idiot comparison. MP won 5 individual golds (200 free/200 fly/200 IM/100 fly/400 IM) and 2 normal relay golds (4X100 free/4X200 free) in Melbourne. And if Crocker had used his brain in the 4X100 medley relay prelims it would have been 8. CB “only” 3 individual golds, 2 normal relays and 2 stupid relays. Much easier now to win 7 or 8 golds. Unfair. These adds of useless mixed relays make that we can’t compare to the past anymore. But I say the same about people who compare to the period when there had worlds only every 4 years before until 1998. Having said that, Dressel’s week remains amazing,… Read more »
It’s factually true, and it has an impact on any direct comparisons between 2007 Phelps and 2017 Dressel just based on medal opportunities (though in Dressel’s defense, it also adds another swim, which makes a program more physically and mentally taxing). If I have a choice between giving you the reader more context or less context about a given feat, I’m generally going to choose more.
they should offer brownies at the end of the relays ?
Impressive looking at that list, the consistency is striking. So happy for Team Dressel, its been fun watching him since his breakout meet at 2013 US nationals, Thanks for the great swims Caeleb.