Dressel completes freestyle sprint double
BUDAPEST: Caeleb Dressel of the US won the men’s 50-meter freestyle title at the world championships to complete the sprint double in his hat trick of gold medals on Saturday.
Dressel, who also won the men’s 100meter freestyle gold on Thursday, clocked 21.15 seconds with Brazil’s Bruno Fratus taking silver at 0.12 back and Britain’s Ben Proud earning bronze at 0.28.
Just half an hour later, Dressel came out and blasted his way to victory in the men’s 100-meter butterfly final.
He completed his hat trick of golds on Saturday night leading off the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay team which broke the world record.
The 20-year-old has now won six golds in Budapest.
He has three individuals titles, including the 100m freestyle, plus victories for the US in the men’s 4x100m freestyle, mixed 4x100m medley and mixed 4x100m freestyle relays.
Fratus was pleased with his second silver of the week after finishing second with Brazil in the men’s 4x100m freestyle.
“It’s been the best week of my life, the best to races of my life,” said the 28-yearold.
“I just feel happy, because I did the hard work, I bust my ass off.
“I don’t consider myself a talented guy, but I’m sure a hard worker. “I expected a good time and I got it.” Britain’s Proud, who won the 100m butterfly title on Monday, was happy with his second medal of these championships and paid tribute to Dressel, who collected his fourth gold of these world championships.
“It’s a really good outcome for me to get third,” said the 22-year-old.
“I was racing against a guy going 21.1 — you don’t see that every day.
“It’s not often that someone comes along like Caeleb, a really talented swimmer, so third place is better than I expected.”
Also, Katie Ledecky made it five gold medals in her final event of the world championships, cruising to victory in the 800-meter freestyle Saturday.
Ledecky was not seriously challenged but finished far off her world record with a time of 8 minutes, 12.68 seconds. She won gold at last year’s Olympics in 8:04.79.
While Ledecky finished with five golds and a silver, the meet will still be viewed as a bit of a disappointment. She was way off her best times and was edged in the 200 free by Federica Pellegrini.