Seven-time Olympic swimming gold medallist Caeleb Dressel was denied again in his bid to return to the World Championships on Thursday, finishing tied for fifth in the 100m butterfly at the US championships in Indianapolis.
Dressel, who set the world record in winning 100m fly Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, is competing this week in his first major meet since withdrawing from last year’s World Championships in Budapest.
Months away from the pool have made a difference this week for the US star, who was 29th in the preliminaries of the 100m free before a third place finish in the 50m butterfly - an encouraging performance but not enough to make the team for next month’s World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. In fact, Dressel was ninth-fastest in the 100m fly heats on Thursday, but gained a place in the championship final when Ryan Murphy pulled out of the event.
Dressel couldn’t capitalise as Dare Rose won in a personal best of 50.74sec with 16-year-old Thomas Heilman second in 51.91. Heilman, who was second in the 200m fly, became the youngest American male swimmer to qualify for two individual World Championships events as Dressel finished 92-hundredths of a second off the pace.
In other events, Torri Huske lined up a defence of the 100m fly world title she won in Budapest with a victory in 56.18sec.
Gretchen Walsh was second in 56.34, holding off Kate Douglass whose time of 56.43 saw the race produce the three fastest times in the world this year. Katie Grimes powered past Alex Walsh on the final freestyle leg to win the 400m individual medley in 4:33.80.