American swimmer Caeleb Dressel, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist returning after a long absence, missed his last chance to compete at the world championships in Fukuoka (July 14-30) on Saturday in the 50m freestyle at the American championships in Indianapolis .
Dressel, who withdrew from the world championships in Budapest last year for unknown medical reasons and had stopped training for many months, finished in 22nd place in the 50m freestyle heats. The 26-year-old swimmer with 14 world championship titles had already failed in three other events, the 50m butterfly (he finished 3rd), the 100m butterfly (5th) and the 100m freestyle, which he had not reached. the final.
His coach, Anthony Nesty, felt that his results were in line with expectations after such a long absence, and above all noted that Dressel was enjoying swimming again. “Mentally, he’s where he needs to be,” Nesty told Swimming World magazine. “He’s happy, it’s the first time I’ve seen him happy swimming for a long time,” he added.
Dressel, who only resumed competition in May at a meeting in Atlanta, said little about his decision to step away from the pools, but opened up in an interview in April 2022 about his health. mental state, explaining that she regularly suffers from anxiety. In a post on Instagram in September 2022, he said he was “happy without swimming”, while explaining that he was planning a return to the pools.