Caeleb Dressel Looks Like Himself Again, Winning At Olympic Swim Trials

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — After a long layoff and all the doubts about whether he’d reclaim his place as one of the world’s greatest swimmers, Caeleb Dressel is beginning to look like himself again.

Dressel earned his first individual race of the Paris Games, powering to a relatively easy victory in the men’s 50-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic trials Friday night.

One of the biggest stars in Tokyo with five gold medals, Dressel finished third in the first individual event, the 100 freestyle, which relegated him to the relay at that distance.

But he’ll get a chance to defend his 50 free title in Paris, blowing away the field in the frantic dash from one end of the pool to the other at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s tough. That was a tough one,” Dressel said. “I was not super-confident until I got up on that block. There’s only so much you can do in the 50. It’s head down and go fast.”

Dressel did just that to touch in 21.41 seconds — not as fast as his winning time (21.07) at the last Olympics, but still a performance that would’ve been good enough to win gold in 2021.

Chris Guiliano claimed his third individual race in Paris with a runner-up finish of 21.69.

In the aftermath of his Tokyo success, Dressel stunningly walked away from swimming during the 2022 world championships. He later revealed what a toll the sport had taken on him, saying he needed an extended break to rediscover his passion at the pool.

Dressel failed to even qualify for the 2023 worlds, and his mental fragility is still a work in progress.

“There’s parts of this meet that I’ve had some very low lows,” he conceded. “There’s parts that I have when I’m in my hotel room that are not on camera, talking to my wife, talking to my