“It made me happy” - Caeleb Dressel shares his emotions after Jack Alexy beats him in 100m freestyle at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials

The seven time Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel expressed his thoughts after Jack Alexy, the California Golden Bears prodigy, defeated him in 100m freestyle event during the ongoing 2024 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials.

Dressel is considered one of the most dominant freestyle swimmers in history, and his seven Olympic gold medals in 100m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly, 50m Freestyle, and relay events underscores the fact that he is the most successful male swimmers of the United States after Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

He proved his worth during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when the United States team participated in the event without Phelps, he didn't let the fans miss the Baltimore Bullet and won five out of six events that he participated in.

However, Dressel had to take a break from swimming, citing mental health issues, but the Green Cove Springs, Florida native made a comeback last year and is currently competitng at the US Olympic Swimming Trials, taking place in Lucas Oil Stadium, Indiana.

Vying to secure his ticket to the Paris Olympics, Dressel competed in the 100m freestyle on Wednesday and finished third with a time of 47.53 seconds and got defeated by Chris Guiliano, who took the top spot with 47.38 seconds, while Jack Alexy finished second upon touching the wall in 47.47 seconds.

Talking about the race, Caeleb Dressel appreciated Alexy during an interview with Swim Swam and stated:

"I mean watching Jack [Alexy] going 47.0 like I didn't want to loose but it made me happy. I know how exciting it is to go 47.0, there's not a whole lot of people that have done that." [2:47 onwards]

Dressel also added that he wanted to be dominant as long as he could, but acknowledged a little shift in the approach and it doesn't mean that he is giving up or something.

Caeleb Dressel redeems himself in the 50m freestyle to make it to the Paris Olympics 2024

2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Swimming - Day 7

Caeleb Dressel will be participating in the 100m freestyle relay following the defeat against Guiliano and Alexy. Even though 47.53 seconds was Dressel's best finish since the Tokyo Olympics it could only assure him the third spot.

However, the 21-time world champion came with all the guns blazing in the 50m freestyle event on Friday and qualified for his first individual event for the Paris Olympics after winning the heat in 21.41 seconds while Chris Guiliano finished second with 21.69 seconds earning him the qualification in the event.

Talking about the race Caeleb Dressel stated (via Olympics.com):

"Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's tough. That was a tough one. I was not super confident until I got up on that block."

He also added that there is so much to do in a 50m heat as one simply has to swim fast while maintaining a streamlined position.