Swimming

Caeleb Dressel DFS 200 Free on First Day of Atlanta Classic, Still in 100 Fly

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By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam

2023 SPEEDO ATLANTA CLASSIC

At a meet filled with many of swimming’s biggest stars, one of the draws of the 2023 Atlanta Classic is that it’s Caeleb Dressel‘s return to racing after leaving World Championships early last June and taking a break from the sport. However, we’ll all have to wait a little longer to see him back in the water, as he’s declared a false start (DFS) his first event of the meet, the 200 freestyle.

The 26-year-old Dressel was seeded third in the event, with an entry time of 1:47.58. It’s not an event that’s usually on his schedule, but fans are often eager to see what kind of time he can put up, especially if it would be a useful time for the U.S.’s 4×200 freestyle relay. Dressel’s lifetime best is 1:46.63 from 2020 Olympic Trials. He swam that time to qualify second out of the heats before scratching semifinals.

He’s still entered in the 100 fly, where he’s seeded seventh (53.75). That’s well off his lifetime best of 49.45, which also stands as the world record. If he swims, the 100 fly final could be a very interesting race between him and Olympian and Canadian record-holder Josh Liendo. Given that there was only one event–the 100 breast–between prelims of the 200 freestyle and 100 fly, that could have been a factor in Dressel’s decision to forgo the 200 freestyle here in Atlanta.

In addition to the 200 free and 100 fly, there are heats of the 100 breast and 400 IM racing during the first session of the meet.

SwimSwam: Caeleb Dressel DFS 200 Free on First Day of Atlanta Classic, Still in 100 Fly

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