American swimmer Caeleb Dressel finally lived up to the high expectations placed on him by winning his first Olympic gold medal in his event.
Golden Guy USAs Caeleb Dressel Wins 100M Freestyle
Dressel raced furiously to the wall and narrowly beat defending Olympic winner Kyle Chalmers of Australia. At 47.02 seconds, the winning time set a new Olympic record.
Dressel won by a hair over six-hundredths of a second over Chalmers, who had previously won in 2016. Kliment Kolesenikov of Russia won bronze.
In Dressel’s early Career, he found the most Success in Relays, Winning Three Gold Medals.
Caeleb Dressel, a swimmer, won the men’s 100-meter freestyle event at the 2016 Olympics, making history as the youngest male swimmer to ever win an individual Olympic gold medal.
By a just 0.06 seconds, the American swimmer beat over the defending Olympic champion, the Australian’s Kyle Chalmers. Dressel’s 47.02 second winning time in the Tokyo Aquatics Center set a new Olympic record.
It took Kliment Kolesenikov of the ROC 47.44 Seconds to win Bronze.
Dressel said, “It means a lot to win” after claiming his first Olympic gold medal in his solo event. “I was aware of the significance of the task at hand; prior to this, my only Olympic medals had been earned as part of a relay team.
“The situation is unique. I’m relieved to finally be able to say it out loud. Things are really different here; you have no one to rely on.
“No one is around to get you out of this predicament; you and the water are both on your own. Having to deal with this is challenging.”
With the fastest qualifying time in the world this year, Caeleb Dressel was the clear favourite going into the final.
The fact that this was a rematch of the 2016 Olympic gold medal race, which Chalmers won and Dressel placed sixth in, added an extra dose of drama to the event.
Dressel was not Taking any Chances this Time Around.
Dressel jumped out to an early lead thanks to his 0.60 second response time, which was the fastest of the three finals.
Having fallen to third place at the 50-meter mark, Chalmers fought back to catch up to his American adversary in the last phases of the race.
After a frantic dash to the finish line, Dressel defeated defending champion Chalmers by 0.06 seconds.
Dressel has already won a gold medal at the Tokyo Games. He was a member of the successful American 4×100-meter freestyle relay team.
The 24-year-old has already won three Olympic gold medals, all in relay competition.