A months-long hiatus from the sport has given the seven-time Olympic gold medalist a new perspective. Now he is peaking for Paris, but admits that he is still struggling while swimming fast.
Caeleb Dressel straddles the lane line in Lucas Oil Stadium, raising his sculpted upper body above the pool, a triumphant act he hadn’t performed in a swim meet in two years and three days—since just before the disappearance. Piercing blue eyes closed and arms raised, his face is a panoply of evolving emotions: relief, exhaustion, fulfillment. Then his eyes open and he slaps his right hand down in a celebratory splash.
In the butterfly, an event in which he holds the world record, Dressel kept repeating to himself, “17, 19. 17, 19.” That’s his ideal stroke count—17 strokes out in the first 50, then 19 coming back home. Hit the count and there’s no way he should lose at this meet. “There’s parts of this meet I’ve had some very low lows,” he said. “There’s parts in my hotel room that weren’t on camera. Talking with my wife , talking with my therapist, it has not been smooth sailing this whole time. I know y’all get to see the smile. And I’m working on it. I’m trying to find those moments and then really relish in them.”
Back up on the blocks, Dressel blasts his way to gold in the 100 fly—not quite as fast as his new world record, but enough to win easily. And 66 minutes after that, Dressel swims the lead-off leg in the mixed freestyle relay, putting the U.S. in first. His teammates do the rest, setting a world record and giving him his third gold of the night in less than two hours—a herculean performance.
“I broke down,” he said in ’21. “I started crying. It was tough.” This wasn’t the first time Dressel reached the end of a big meet at a breaking point. As a teenager he dominated the 2013 junior nationals in Greensboro, N.C., but was on the verge of passing out after several races. Hyperventilating amid questionable indoor air quality at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, Dressel repeatedly had to be half-carried outside for fresh air.
Dressel won five gold medals in Tokyo, including the 4x100-meter medley relay with his U.S. teammates. / Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports Dressel had just won the 50 butterfly, his second World Championships gold medal in as many days. By all appearances, this meet seemed to be a continuation of the dominance he exerted in 2019 and ’21.
The world championships in Budapest in June 2022 marked the start of Dressel's eight-month hiatus from swimming. / Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images It is June 27, 2023. He’s in Indy competing at U.S. National Championships, attempting a short-cut comeback to make the World Championships. It’s not going well—the American record-holder in the 50 and 100 freestyles finished tied for 22nd in the former and 23rd in the latter. He rebounded to swim better in the butterfly events, but still didn’t make the U.S. team for worlds.
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