Dressel books 50m free Olympic title defense

Caeleb Dressel booked a chance to defend his 50m freestyle Olympic crown in Paris with a victory on Friday at the US Olympic swimming trials.

Dressel, whose five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 included the 50m and 100m free and 100m fly, booked his first individual swim in Paris after missing out with a third-place finish in the 100m free.

The 27-year-old American, who owns a total of seven Olympic golds, stepped away from the sport abruptly in 2022 then failed to make the US team for the world championships in 2023.

He looked in vintage form at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, exploding off the blocks to win the 50 free in 21.41sec.

The time makes him the fourth-fastest in the world this year, a list led by Australian Cameron McEvoy.

With his wife, Meghan, celebrating in the stands with their four-month-old son, August, in her arms, Dressel gave a mighty fist pump before acknowledging the crowd.

Chris Guiliano, winner of the 100m free and runner-up in the 200m free this week, was second in 21.69 -- with Matt King shut out of the Olympic berths by an agonizing one-hundredth of a second as he finished third in 21.70.

Dressel returned to clock the top time of 50.79 in the 100m fly semi-finals.

Regan Smith capped a stellar week that started with a world record in the 100m backstroke final with a wire-to wire win in the 200m back in 2min 05.16sec.

Phoebe Bacon powered past reigning world champion Claire Curzan in the closing meters to take second in 2:06.27 and punch her ticket to Paris.

Smith, who set 100m and 200m backstroke world records as a 17-year-old in 2019, has endured her share of ups and downs since then but she heads to Paris as a contender in both backstrokes and the 200m butterfly, which she won on Thursday.

"I'm incredibly proud of this performance," Smith said. "I think it's a night and day difference versus 2021 to now.

"I ran out of gas at the end of that last race, but it has been a great week for me."

Carson Foster, Paris-bound as winner of the 400m individual medley, powered home on the closing freestyle leg to win the 200m individual medley in 1:55.65.

Shaine Casas had dominated the opening butterfly and backstroke legs to build a lead and still held a slim advantage as they turned for home after the breaststroke.

He delivered a gritty final freestyle lap to finish second in 1:55.83 and make his first Olympic team in his final chance of the week.

"It means everything," said Casas, who broke down in tears as he hugged Foster across the lane rope.

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