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The Men’s 100 Free was one of the highlight events heading into this year’s NCAA Championships with some big swims expected, especially from Florida Gators Junior Caeleb Dressel.
There was no holding back in prelims this year as the field was hugely competitive to get into finals. It ended up taking a sub-42 to move into the coveted top 8 – likely the fastest final of all time. Dressel took the top seed heading into finals clocking a 41.00 in prelims, followed by fellow Olympian Ryan Held, Michael Chadwick, Dylan Carter, Sam Perry, Blake Pieroni, Santo Condorelli, and Brett Ringgold.
Dressel was quick off the blocks and surged forward with his powerful underwaters, breaking out with a slight lead on the field. Off the first turn, Dressel surged ahead even further, managing a half-body length lead by the 50 where he clocked a huge 19.01 – over four tenths ahead of Chadwick in second and the rest of the field close behind. Dressel maintained the most consistent stroke rate in the field, staying around 1 second/cycle while the rest of the field generally slowed their rates over the race.
Dressel’s walls are second to none, and he uses them well in this race. Starting with maintaining the fastest turns in the field at about 0.55 seconds, followed by fast and long underwaters. He consistently stays under for 3-3.5 seconds (roughly a third of the lap time-wise) and breaks out at about 10m while the rest of the field breaks out shorter and decrease them throughout the race.
The turn at the 50 once again pushed Dressel further ahead of the field, now in a race of his own with the rest of the field fighting for second place. Heading into the final length Chadwick and Held were neck-and-neck fighting for second, while Carter, Ringgold, and Condorelli fought for fourth.
Dressel put his head down on the final length, driving hard to the finish and slammed to the wall in an unbelievable 40.00, almost half a second faster than his best – the previous NCAA record. Chadwick got his hand to the wall in second at 40.95 while Held touched in third at 41.21. Carter out-touched the pack to take fourth at 41.76 while Condorelli and Ringgold touched simultaneously a hundredth back to tie for fifth.
Consistency was the key in this race – starting with a high stroke rate and maintaining it, and holding fast, long underwaters off of all three walls.
When asked what his strategy was this evening, he simply replied, “my goal was to take it out faster and bring it home faster”. Easier said than done, but he clearly got it done.
Swim analysis is courtesy of TritonWear, a SwimSwam partner.
I’m impressed yes by Dressel, but by the quality of the entire final overall. 8 guys in 41.85 or better.
The article is interesting and shows why Dressel is so good in yards and isn’t 1.21s ahead of Held in long course. Starts, walls, underwaters. Dressel is a better short course sprinter while Held or Chadwick are better in long course. But I’m confident that we’ll see a Dressel who will die much less in his last 25 while still going out in the same way as during his lead-off relay in Rio. His stroke has gained much in terms of efficiency and he’s more powerful now. Honestly I wouldn’t be shocked if he drops a 47.50. Held is… Read more »