Caeleb Dressel struggles to 29th in 100 freestyle at US swimming nationals

By PAUL NEWBERRY
AP National Writer

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caeleb Dressel has finished 29th in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. nationals to fall far short of qualifying for the world championships in an event he won at the Tokyo Olympics. Dressel fell farther and farther behind in the last of eight heats, touching the wall behind everyone else. His time of 49.42 seconds was a whopping 1.79 behind top qualifier Ryan Held. It was a sobering reminder of how far Dressel has to go after walking away from swimming last summer during the world championships in Budapest, Hungary. Dressel was nearly 2.5 seconds off his gold medal-winning performance in Tokyo.