The 26-year-old athlete hadn't competed in any significant meets since abruptly withdrawing from the World Championships in Budapest.
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Seven-time gold medalist at the Olympics, Caeleb Dressel, was unable to qualify for the next World Aquatics Championships 2023 in Japan. His performance at the United States National Championships 2023 in Indianapolis wasn’t enough for him to qualify for the World Championships (Swimming) to be held this month. In the preliminary round of the 50-meter freestyle, Dressel finished in a tie for 22nd position, 1.07 seconds behind the winner.
His overall results, comprised third-place finish in the 50-meter butterfly, a tie for fifth in the 100-meter butterfly, and a 19th-place result in the 100-meter freestyle. These outcomes didn’t help the cause as he failed to secure a position for himself in the USA’s World Championships squad, which will be held in Fukuoka from July 14 to July 30 in 2023.
The 26-year-old athlete hadn’t competed in any significant meets since abruptly withdrawing from the World Championships in Budapest due to mental health difficulties. As a result, his underwhelming result wasn’t entirely unexpected. Anthony Nesty, the University of Florida’s head coach, told SwimSwam, the popular swimming news organization based in the USA, that despite the outcomes, Dressel was happy.
Netsy stated, “He’s very happy where he’s at now. Now we have a starting point and we can go from there.” He added, “This is the first time I’ve seen him happy swimming in a long time, and a happy athlete is a fast athlete.” Nesty noted Dressel’s difficulty maintaining momentum and successfully finishing races despite his great starting skills. He suggested, “He lacks power. He’s mentally where he needs to be, physically, not yet. But his strokes are good. He’s felt good in all his strokes… now we just need to get a full year of training and weights in and he’ll be okay.” Although Dressel didn’t make it to the World Championships squad, every member from the USA team showed their support for the champion swimmer.
With the Paris 2024 Olympic Games approaching, the USA team is optimistic that Caeleb Dressel will regain the form that helped him win five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Dressel himself was optimistic and stated, “I haven’t had that enjoyment for quite some time, so it was nice being back. The times weren’t fast. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t good and I’m fine with that. If I can have the mindset I had at this meet going into next year and year’s after this, I’ve got a very long, very successful rest of my career in front of me.”
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