7-time World Championship gold medalist and 2016 Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel continues to wow us. After the 2018 SEC Championships, see his yards record times so far:
- 50 yard free – 18.20
- 100 yard free – 40.00
- 100 yard butterfly – 43.58
- 100 yard breaststroke – 50.03
- 200 yard IM – 1:38.13
SO MANY QUESTIONS…
ONE: Is Dressel the greatest yards swimmer of all-time? I think so. I can’t think of anyone else as fast across a wide range of strokes. You could make the case that Pablo Morales is the man with his 11 NCAA Championship wins, but he didn’t crush it across so many strokes. Caeleb’s got fly, free and breast locked up, with 200 IM as the bonus record stunner.
TWO: Is Dressel facing off with Joe Schooling in the 100 fly at NCAAs or will he swim 100 breast? I could see Dressel swimming 100 breaststroke, but I think he’s swimming 100 fly after his 49.8 100m fly last summer. 100 breast at NCAAs appears to be an easier win, but I don’t think Coach Troy (or Dressel) cares about that.
THREE: Does Dressel dip under 40 flat in the 100 free?
FOUR: Is a 17.99 50 free more impressive than 39.99 100 free?
FIVE: What swimwear brand lands this guy? He turns pro after NCAAs…. I have no clue, but it’s going to be interesting to see. What do you think?
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This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.
Mel, Can you imagine if Dressel had gone to Bolles High School? They would have had Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Murphy, Joseph Schooling and Santo Condorelli all on the same team. That would have been the greatest high school team ever. Can you imagine how far out in the stratosphere they would have sent every relay record?
He’s going to be one of the greatest meters and all around swimmers of all time too! Take it to the bank
And now that women’s NCAAs are over, Tracy Caulkins’ 4:04 IM and 4:36 500 from 39 years ago would still make finals. She is the SCY GOAT.
Close second would be Justin Wright of Arizona. Just imagine if he had Dressels size, or even average size, definitely the goat
To be honest I would rather watch him swim the 100 breast than the 100 fly at NCAAs. This would give him the chance to be the first man under 50 and I mean he already has an NCAA title in the 100 fly…
Would we rather see a possible 42 in 100 fly or a possible 49 in breast?
I agree, plus I’d rather see what he can do in some off events. We’re likely going to get years of what amazingness he can pull out of his strong events. I’d rather see a low 49 or even a high 48 breast than a 42 fly because I know we’ve got a 49 low (maybe a 48?) long course fly on the horizon
I’d have to go back and check the records, but Tracy Caulkins – who I think is one of the most under-rated swimmers of our time (my time – I am 58) within the context of the general public, may have the edge. She was quite versatile – not just a breaststroke and IM specialist.
If the topic is GOAT and the subject is yards, then the focus shouldn’t be on snapshot victories, but on the time span of records held. Yes, Pablo was a great yards swimmer and won 11 NCAA events but his records were beaten in 12 total years (200 IM – not a record, 100 Fly 8 yrs, 200 fly 4 yrs). Matt Biondi won only 8 NCAA races but his combined records stood for 47 years (50 free 7 yrs, 100 free 17 yrs and 200 fr 23 years). His 1:33.03 would have still made the NCAA finals as recently as 2015, 29 years after graduating.
I don’t really think it’s about the longevity of the records. It maybe should be about the records certain individuals set, and how big or profound the drops were from record-to-record, as well as the versatility of the record-setter.
By my standard, Dressel already has claim to a pretty profound record: the best textile swim in the 100m fly (LC). The only performance faster was Phelps in a shiny suit. Dressel is disadvantaged in that Phelps hardly ever swam SCY races, so he can’t beat records set by the GOAT in the small pool. But, since many of the top swimmers in the world swim NCAA, his achievements hold up when compared to the greats (Cielo, Cordes, Shields, Nolan,… Read more »
isn’t that nathan adrian at 3:50? nice work, Mel 🙂
It looks like well to be Nathan – but with such a hat ? when did that happen ?