Caeleb Dressel qualifies for 50-meter butterfly final at the US national championships
FILE - Caeleb Dressel looks up after swimming the men's 100 butterfly during the Speedo Atlanta Classic finals Friday, May 12, 2023, in Atlanta. Dressel finished 29th in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. nationals on Tuesday, June 27, falling far short of qualifying for the world championships in an event he won at the Tokyo Olympics. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The second morning of the U.S. national championships went better for Caeleb Dressel.
Dressel advanced to the “A” final of the 50-meter butterfly — a non-Olympic event — with the seventh-fastest time of 23.79 seconds on Wednesday. That gives him at least a shot at qualifying for the world championships next month in Fukuoka, Japan.
In his first event at nationals, Dressel finished 29th in the preliminaries of the 100 freestyle, an event he won two years ago at the Tokyo Olympics.
Dressel is competing in his first major meet since taking a long layoff and clearly is not at the level that carried him to five gold medals at the last Summer Games.
Dare Rose was top qualifier in the 50 fly at 23.16.