American seven-time Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel delivered an encouraging 50m freestyle performance at the US Open in Greensboro on Thursday, where Canadian Summer McIntosh defeated the legendary Katie Ledecky in the 400m freestyle.
Dressel (27 years old), a seven-time Olympic champion and 14-time world champion, is attempting to regain top form after more than two tumultuous years since his achievements at the Tokyo Olympics (5 titles). Faced with several months away from the pool, he withdrew from the Budapest World Championships in 2022 before failing to qualify for the Fukuoka Championships this summer.
At the US Open, a high-level meet early in preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Dressel could only qualify for the 50m freestyle B final (22.35 in heats), which he dominated in the afternoon with a time of 21.99, the fourth overall time among all participants. Although far from his record (21.04), it was an encouraging performance, better known since April 2022.
Michael Andrew dominated the A final in 21.80.
Dressel is also competing in the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle on Friday and Saturday.
The day’s sensation came from the Canadian four-time world champion Summer McIntosh, who secured a victory over the American pool legend Katie Ledecky in the 400m freestyle (3:59.42 against 4:02.38).
Ledecky had not been defeated in this discipline in the United States for eleven years.
The 26-year-old American, with 7 Olympic titles and 21 world titles, had won silver in the 400m freestyle at the Fukuoka World Championships behind the Australian Ariarne Titmus, who had then taken McIntosh’s world record, disappointing with a 4th place in Japan.
“I learned a lot from this race,” said the 17-year-old Canadian, still crowned in the 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley in Fukuoka.
World champion in the 200m individual medley, American Kate Douglass impressed with a double in the 200m individual medley (2:08.46) and 50m freestyle (24.38).
The new star of swimming, Frenchman Léon Marchand, who trains in Phoenix, Arizona, decided at the last moment not to participate in the competition to prioritize training following an illness.
© Agence France-Presse
