Paris Olympics 2024: Caeleb Dressel Puts US on Swimming World’s Notice Once Again Amid Leon Marchand’s Dominance

With the Olympic Team Trials coming up in June, the seven-time Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel is eyeing another memorable run on the grandest stage. With that in mind, Dressel just gave a sneak peek into his current form at the TYR Pro Swim Series in San Antonio, Texas hours ago. Winning the 100m freestyle in 48.40, Dressel showed his mettle.

With this time, Dressel edged past his results from last month’s TYR Pro event in Westmont, where he finished 2nd in the men’s 100m event with 48.57. While his personal best in the stretch remains 46.96, the latest result only shows Caeleb’s determination to bring out the best in him with the Paris Olympics looming overhead.

In a recent post by the official USA Swimming’s Twitter account, Dressel’s latest feat has been hailed triumphantly. “Caeleb Dressel gets it done“, reads the sonorous caption of the post as the accompanying video shows Dressel in lane 8 edging past his opponents fairly easily. This adds to Caeleb’s gradual development in the event in recent times. The 10-time NCAA gold medalist has been eyeing his return on the big stage for months, stretching back all the way to last year.

At last year’s US Trials, Dressel finished the 100m free race in 49.64, marking his journey to reclaim his throne in the event. Then, at the US Open, Caeleb returned after a long hiatus. He returned to the waters to come out second with a time of 48.85. And now, with his latest win, Dressel will be looking to step one foot closer to an eighth gold medal win in Paris later this year.

After having opted out of January’s TYR Pro event in Knoxville to welcome his newborn daughter, Dressel is looking to make sure athletes like Leon Marchand don’t feel like their journey to the top of the podium in Paris is safe and without any bumps along the way.

Dressel sends a message to Marchand

Marchand and Dressel have a long history of intense rivalry as two of the greatest collegiate swimmers of all time. While the Frenchman still has a long way to go before being able to match Caeleb’s legacy on international stages, he has been creating ripples for quite some time. Breaking Michael Phelps’ record in the 400-fly event at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Marchand has established himself as a force to be reckoned with. However, Dressel continues to show his elite status to this day.

While Marchand currently has five World Championships gold medals to his name, Dressel boasts 21. However, Bob Bowman’s second prodigal son still has a few years to catch up the Caeleb as he has successfully asserted his dominance across the national circuit. Despite the 100m not being his usual choice of weapon, Marchand clocked an impressive 40.28 at this year’s NCAA D1 Championships. Now, it waits to be seen if the two giants ever cross paths in the near future and who triumphs over their opponent.

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