SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers to predict the men’s 100 free winner at this summer’s World Championships:
RESULTS
Question: Who will win the 2019 World Championships Men’s 100 Free:
- Kyle Chalmers – 21.4%
- Caeleb Dressel – 69.8%
- Someone else – 8.8%
Despite a big swim from Australia’s Kyle Chalmers last week, nearly 70% of voters are still picking Caeleb Dressel to win this summer’s World Championships gold medal in the 100 free.
Chalmers crushed a 47.48 at Australia’s national championships last week, rocketing to #1 in the world (though that title was only briefly held). Chalmers won the 2016 Olympics in 47.58 before missing 2017 with heart surgery. He returned last summer to beat Dressel at Pan Pacs, 48.00 to 48.22.
Dressel, meanwhile, took 6th in that 2016 Olympic field (48.02), but exploded over the next year to win World Champs gold in Chalmers’ absence, smashing a 47.17 time. Dressel struggled last summer, later revealing that he’d been in a motorcycle accident during taper.
This summer sets up what should be a rematch of the two at full health, barring any setbacks for either. Chalmers’ 47.4 brought about a wave of swimming’s favorite discussion (“he was rested!” “No he wasn’t.” “Yes he was, duh.” “No he wasn’t, he said he wasn’t, duh.” “He said he wasn’t but he still was.” “He had a beard.” “He had stubble and no other body hair.” “Without a beard he’ll go at least three seconds faster, duh.” “He was rested and can’t possibly rest twice in the same year. He’ll go slower. Duh.” “He did ten grand and weights the morning of the swim.” “No he didn’t.” “Yes he did. Duh.”), but it didn’t seem to have that much impact on this poll, which came shortly after Chalmers’ big swim.
Dressel, meanwhile, has been 48.7 this season, but didn’t swim the event at his most recent meet, the Richmond Pro Swim Series. (He had a bunch of other season-best swims, though, like 21.6 in the 50 free, 1:47.3 in the 200 free, begging the question of what he would’ve done in the intermediate distance). 69.8% of voters favored Dressel, while only 21.4% picked Chalmers to win the event three months out.
8.8% picked someone other than the two favorites. That might owe to the flood of 47s following Chalmers’ swim. Since that April 8 swim, we’ve seen Russia’s Vladislav Grinev go 47.43 on April 9, Brazil’s Marcelo Chierighini go 47.68 on April 18 and Great Britain’s Duncan Scott go 47.87 on the same day. We posted our poll shortly after Chalmers swim or we may have included more of the 47-second swimmers as specific options.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks voters which American International Swimming League team has the coolest name:
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Rooting for Chalmers to win Gold!
Dressel and Chalmers are definitely favourites but given the collective talent in the 100FS and what can happen on the day I would have thought the chances of somebody else winning would be statistically higher than 8.8%.
It’d Dean Farris’s race, they’re just living in it temporarily.
Who’d have thought visitors of an American website would choose the American.
i wonder who ended up winning
Considering that this is an American based site and the disparities in population, I’m surprised it’s not more in favor of Dressel. Would be interested to see the breakdown by countries: US, Aus, and other
While we are headquartered in the US, keep in mind that we have writers around the globe, and 40% of our audience is based internationally.
And, based on commoents, there seems to be some portion of our audience (US and otherwise) who don’t think that last year’s Dressel performance was the result of a motorcycle accident.
We don’t have an exact breakdown by country (that would take a lot of work to do lol), but quite a few Australians actually voted for Dressel.
46.5 in 2024!
Maybe neither of them will win? The field is deep this year.
This is the blue riband of swimming, the field will always be deep & upsets (see 2016) possible.
Or even 2015 Worlds when Ning Zetao won. Or 2012 when Adrian upset Magnussen. The 100 free is wild.
I’m rooting for Dressel, but this will be a really close race. There are so many people who can be 47 mid, low, that a 48 won’t make finals.
Meh, a lot of people swim off their best under the bright lights. 48.1 definitely makes finals