Dressel secures position in 100 free; Manuel out
OMAHA, Neb. — Caeleb Dressel locked up his spot for Tokyo, where he’s expected to be one of the biggest stars in the Olympic pool.
Simone Manuel got left behind.
In the biggest surprise yet at the U.S. swimming trials, the defending Olympic women’s champion in the 100-meter freestyle failed to advance from the semifinals Thursday night.
Manuel, who tied for the gold at the Rio Olympics to become the first Black woman ever to win an individual swimming event, finished fourth in the first semifinal heat at 54.17 seconds.
She just missed a spot in tonight’s final when five swimmers went faster in the second semifinal heat, with Erika Brown taking the eighth spot in 54.15 — two-hundredths faster than Manuel.
There were no such concerns for Dressel, who romped to victory in the men’s 100 free in 47.39.
He finally got a chance to shine on Day 5 of the trials after a long week of waiting. When Dressel saw a “1” beside his name, he hopped on the lane rope, splashed the water and pumped his arms to whip up the crowd.
“It’s a huge weight off my shoulders,” Dressel said. “I’m excited to get the job done and move forward.”
After winning two golds medals at the 2016 Rio Games, he really shined at the past two world championships.
In 2017, Dressel captured seven gold medals in Budapest — joining Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz as the only swimmers to win that many races at a major international meet.
Dressel followed up with six golds and two silvers at the 2019 championships in Gwangju, becoming only the second swimmer to take as many as eight medals after Phelps.
While Dressel isn’t expected to swim enough events in Tokyo to challenge Phelps’ record of eight golds from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he could be in the mix for as many seven medals if he’s included on all the relays.
Dressel isn’t thinking that far ahead. He’s still got two more individual events at the trials, and he’s heavily favored in both.
“You can’t win five, six or seven medals if you don’t qualify for the events,” he said. “I’m focused on qualifying right now.”
Ryan Lochte, 36, advanced to the final of the 200 individual medley, his only realistic chance to qualify for his fifth Olympics.
But Lochte has his work cut out for him. Michael Andrew dominated the semifinals with a time of 1:55.26 — fastest in the world this year. Lochte was the sixth-fastest qualifier at 1:58.65, nearly 31/2 seconds behind Andrew.
Only the top two will make the Olympic team today.
In the men’s 200 breaststroke, Nic Fink made the Olympics for the first time at age 27, winning with a time of 2:07.55 in a 1-2 finish with club teammate Andrew Wilson.