Dressel stamps his mark in 100 free but Manuel is out

OMAHA (Nebraska) • Caeleb Dressel's hunt for the Olympic 100m freestyle gold is on, but Simone Manuel will not defend the 100m free title she won in 2016 after crashing out in the semi-finals at the US Olympic swimming trials on Thursday.

Her semi-final exit was the biggest surprise so far of a competition that has produced an array of first-time Olympians.

Manuel made history in Rio de Janeiro when she became the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic swimming gold - tying for first with Canadian Penny Oleksiak in the prestigious 100m free.

World titles followed in 2017 and 2019 but she was shut out of Friday's final with the ninth-fastest time of the semi-finals.

Manuel, fighting back tears in a post-race press conference, revealed that after struggling in training early this year, she had been diagnosed in March with over-training syndrome, her symptoms ranging from physical fatigue and lack of progress in her training to depression.

After reducing her training schedule she eventually took three weeks out of the water, returning to the pool on April 17.

It was a massive chunk of time to miss so close to the Olympics, and Manuel said she knew she had done everything in her power to get herself ready for trials and a bid to defend her title.

"I know I did everything I possibly could to even be here, and that makes me proud," said Manuel, adding that she would still try to qualify in the 50m free.

"I'm gonna go for it," she said.

There were no surprises for Dressel, who admitted he had been itching to get going with his first final coming on the fifth day of the eight-day meet.

"It's a weight off my shoulders," he said after winning in 47.39 seconds, making him the second-fastest in the world this year behind Russian Kliment Kolesnikov's 47.31sec.

It augurs well for his chances of adding a first 100m free Olympic gold to his 2017 and 2019 world titles. It is one of three individual events where he is the two-time defending world champion, along with the 50m free and 100m butterfly.

His success since his first Olympic foray in Rio, where he earned two relay golds but finished sixth in his only individual event, the 100m free, has made him the face of a US team who will be without Michael Phelps at the Games for the first time since 1996.

"It's great all the fluff that comes with it, my name on the building, but it adds a little different pressure to it, so I'm excited to get the job done and go forward," Dressel said. "You can't win five, six, however many medals if you don't qualify for the events, so I'm just focused on trials now."

Zach Apple, sixth at the 50m mark, stormed home to finish second in 47.72 and earn the expected second Tokyo berth.

Nic Fink, swimming in his third Olympic trials, booked his first career Games berth with a 200m breaststroke victory in 2min 7.55sec.

In other finals, it took everything Hali Flickinger had to clinch the women's 200m fly final, where she was trailing slightly at the halfway mark but turned on the jets down the final stretch and put up a 2:05.85 personal best for the win.

Bobby Finke won the men's 800m free in 7:48.22, earning a Tokyo berth in an event that is returning to the Olympic programme for the first time since 1904.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS