Caeleb Dressel, Katie Ledecky lead US Olympic swim team with eyes on Australia

LOS ANGELES – Resurgent stars Caeleb Dressel and Regan Smith, speedy newcomers and the ever-impressive Katie Ledecky will aim to maintain the United States’ supremacy in the pool at the Paris Olympics, where a formidable Australian team await.

The intense nine days of the US trials concluded on June 23 and produced a team of 46 swimmers aching to reassert America’s dominance, after Australia topped the medal table at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

“You know, last year is last year, and this is a new season,” said Anthony Nesty, the 1988 100m butterfly gold medallist for Suriname, who will serve as coach of the US men’s team in Paris.

“We are pretty confident.”

Nesty has shepherded the comeback of sprint star Dressel, who won five gold medals at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games but stepped away from the sport in 2022 to tend to his mental health.

The 27-year-old did not qualify to defend his 100m freestyle gold, but he won the 50m free and 100m butterfly and he remains a significant contender in both events, even if he is not as dominant as he was in 2021.

Smith, who broke the 100m and 200m backstroke world records as a teenager back in 2019 but settled for silver and bronze in Tokyo, cemented her return to peak form more emphatically.

She clocked a 57.13sec world record in the 100m backstroke, then adding the 200m back and 200m fly to her Paris programme. Smith sliced two-tenths of a second off the world mark set by Kaylee McKeown in 2023, setting up a tantalising clash with the Aussie in Paris.

Gretchen Walsh signalled her arrival as a long-course contender, shattering the 100m fly world record on the way to booking her first Olympic trip, and locking up a spot in the 50m free with a runner-up finish behind another veteran on the comeback trail – Simone Manuel.

Other Olympic veterans bound for Paris include reigning men’s 800m and 1,500m free champion Bobby Finke, Ryan Murphy – double backstroke gold medallist at the 2016 Rio Games – breaststroker Lilly King, and Ledecky.

Ledecky qualified in the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m free – although she is expected to drop the 200m to focus not only on winning a fourth straight 800m free gold and another 1,500m crown but also on regaining her 400m free crown.

Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, who stunned Ledecky in the 400m in Tokyo, owns the world record and clocked the second-fastest time ever in June. Both she and Ledecky will also have to be wary of Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh.

Kate Douglass won three events at the US trials and Chris Guiliano qualified in three individual events – winning the 100m free ahead of Jack Alexy.

Eight teenagers in the squad include the brother-sister duo of Aaron and Alex Shackell and Thomas Heilman, at 17 the youngest US male swimmer to make an Olympic team since 15-year-old Michael Phelps and 17-year-old Aaron Peirsol at Sydney 2000.

An array of countries – China, Canada, Britain and hosts France – will have strong contenders in multiple events, but it is the Australians who have the US swimmers’ attention after 2023. AFP