Caeleb Dressel takes second Tokyo gold in men’s 100m freestyle

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Caeleb Dressel of the United States celebrates winning the men’s 100-meter freestyle final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 29, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

US superstar Caeleb Dressel flew faster than Kyle Chalmers to add the Olympic 100m freestyle crown to his two world titles Thursday, as China’s women sparked a huge upset with a new world record to win the 4x200m relay.

American Dressel missed out on the sprint medals at Rio in 2016, but he has since exploded, winning an incredible 13 titles over the past two world championships to be an imposing force.

He was in front at the turn in Tokyo but had to dig deep to hold off a storming Chalmers and hit the wall in a new Olympic record time of 47.02 sec.

The Australian took silver in 47.08 ahead of Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov in 47.44.

“It’s been a really tough year, really hard. I’m really happy,” said Dressel, in tears as he was connected via video link to his wife and family back home.

“It’s so fun going with Kyle, I mean every time we make it good.”

It was his second gold of the Games after spearheading the US to the 4x100m relay title, but his first-ever individual Olympic crown.

He will also swim the 50m freestyle and the 100m butterfly, and could feature in two other relays to keep his dream alive of a six gold medal haul.

[AFP]