Swimmer Caeleb Dressel, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, failed to qualify again for the World Championships by finishing tied for fifth in the 100-meter butterfly at the US qualifying tournament.
Dressel, who set a world record by winning the gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, is competing this week in his first major event since withdrawing from last year’s World Championships in Budapest.
After months out of the pool, this week made all the difference for the American star. In the 100-meter freestyle preliminaries, he placed 29th before finishing third in the 50-meter butterfly, an encouraging performance but not enough to secure his spot on the team that will compete at next month’s World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Dressel was actually ninth fastest in the 100-meter butterfly heats on Thursday but managed to qualify for the final when Ryan Murphy withdrew from the event. Dressel was unable to take advantage of this opportunity, however, as Dare Rose took first place with his personal best of 50.74 seconds, followed by 16-year-old Thomas Heilman in second place with a time of 51.91.
Heilman, who was also second in the 200-meter butterfly, became the youngest US male swimmer to qualify for two individual events at the World Championships, while Dressel was 92 hundredths of a second behind the leader.
Dressel, who won the 100-meter butterfly, 100-meter freestyle, and 50-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics, will still have one more chance this week in the 50-meter freestyle.
In other events On Thursday, Torri Huske defended her world title in the women’s 100-meter butterfly with a win in 56.18 seconds. Gretchen Walsh was second in 56.34 seconds, edging Kate Douglas, whose time of 56.43 made the race the third-fastest in the world this year.In summary, Dressel failed to qualify in the 100-meter butterfly and will have one last chance in the 50-meter freestyle at the US qualifying tournament for the World Championships. Other top swimmers, such as Thomas Heilman and Torri Huske, performed well in their respective events.