WASHINGTON – Seven-gold Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel’s push for the Paris Olympics gained steam on Dec 1 with his 100m butterfly victory at the US Open Swimming Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Dressel, sixth at the turn, powered home to win in 51.31 seconds, his first victory since the 2022 World Championships, where he shortened his campaign before stepping away for several months.
Dressel, who failed to qualify for the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, earlier in 2023, said the win just confirmed the progress he had felt in training.
“It’s not something I need right now,” he said of the victory.
“Training’s been going great, so it’s a little cherry on top. It’s just fun to be back.”
With his eyes firmly on the US Olympic trials in June and the Paris Games, Dressel said he was in a “really good spot”.
“Throwing up some times that probably (are) a little quicker than I thought it would be at this point in the season,” said Dressel, who set the world record of 49.45sec at the Tokyo Olympics.
His storming finish in Greensboro saw him touch 0.01sec ahead of Canada’s Ilya Kharun, with Josh Liendo third in 51.42sec.
In other races, world champion and record holder Summer McIntosh won the women’s 400m individual medley in 4min 29.96sec – nearly eight seconds ahead of Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko (4:37.90). American Regan Smith was third in 4:38.77.
“Overall I’m pretty happy with that,” said the 17-year-old Canadian, who followed up her win over Katie Ledecky in the 400m freestyle a day earlier.
Olympic seven-gold winner Ledecky settled for second again in the 200m free, won by Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey in 1:54.20 to Ledecky’s 1:56.29.
Haughey returned to win the 100m breaststroke in 1:06.05, ahead of Tokyo gold medallist Lydia Jacoby (1:06.20).
Olympic gold medallist Chase Kalisz followed up his 200m medley victory by claiming the 400m IM in 4:10.42. Carson Foster (4:13.43) was second and Jay Litherland (4:14.50) third.
American Torri Huske won the women’s 100m fly in 56.21sec and compatriot Smith won the women’s 100m backstroke in 58.16sec.
Germany’s Rafael Miroslaw (1:45.92) won the men’s 200m freestyle, Denis Petrashov (59.46sec) the men’s 100m breaststroke and Hungarian Hubert Kos (53.19sec) the men’s 100m back. AFP
