Caeleb Dressel’s long journey back to international competition got off to a slow start Tuesday at the USA Swimming National Championships when he failed to initially qualify for the finals in the 100-meter freestyle.
The top seed and U.S. record holder in the event finished 29th in preliminaries, fading in the back half of the race and touching the wall in 49.42 seconds—1.75 seconds off his entry time and 2.46 seconds off his U.S. record.
Dressel did end up getting into the ‘C’ final—the third out of three—after others scratched and opened a spot for him. The 26-year-old scheduled to participate in it Monday night, but because Dressel did not qualify for the race based off his preliminary time, he won’t be eligible to qualify for the U.S. world championship team for the event no matter what time he posts.
It remains to be seen whether he will continue competing in the five-day meet that serves as a selection event for next month’s World Championships in Japan.
Dressel, who has won seven Olympic gold medals and has been the United States’s preeminent male swimmer since Michael Phelps retired, had not competed in a major meet since abruptly pulling out of the World Championships last summer in Budapest.
Dressel is scheduled to swim the 50 freestyle, 50 butterfly and 100 fly later in this meet. He is the world-record holder in the 100 fly and the U.S. record holder in the two 50-meter events. Whether he’ll swim those events was unclear Tuesday afternoon. Dressel and his coach with Gator Swim Club, Anthony Nesty, declined interview requests through a USA Swimming spokesperson after the preliminary session.
Dressel has not spoken to the media since pulling out of last year’s World Championships, citing a health issue. He swam a relay and won the 50 butterfly in that meet, then the preliminaries of the 100 free, before dropping out of the meet. Last year, several weeks after the World Championships, he wrote an Instagram post that said he needed to take time away from swimming.
“I haven’t been on here at all but I wanted to share an update with what I’ve been up to,” the post read. “I haven’t swam since worlds and can honestly say I have been happy without swimming. I really miss it though.
“A few things I’ve done… I finally went on a honeymoon to Iceland, I bought a tractor, hiked another section of the Appalachian Trail, swam with some manatees. I know I can have swimming and happiness. I had them both at one point in my life and I’m working on it. If you need a break, take one. I’ll be back.”
Despite the failure to qualify Tuesday, several athletes and coaches on the pool deck were simply happy to see the popular and charismatic Dressel back in action. After taking as much time away from training as he did, expectations were limited for the 26-year-old’s performance here. He made an appearance at the USA Swimming national relay camp in the spring in Austin and swam a limited schedule at the Atlanta Classic in May.
With the Paris Olympics looming as the big goal in 2024, there is no maximum urgency for him to compete at the highest level this summer. USA Swimming would certainly love to have Dressel performing at or near his best by next yearthen, in individual events and relays.
