PARIS, France — Caeleb Dressel, the Tokyo Olympics gold medalist in the 100-meter butterfly, failed to qualify for the event final in Paris after finishing fifth in his heat on Friday.
After the second heat was finished, Dressel's time was not fast enough to make the final.
The 27-year-old Dressel, who won gold in every event he swam at the Olympics in Tokyo, also had a disappointing sixth-place finish Friday in the men's 50-meter freestyle final.
Dressel couldn't pull off the grueling double, managing only the 13th-fastest time to miss out on the final Saturday night.
Dressel was visibly emotional as he processed the results.
“It hasn’t been my best week," Dressel said in an interview after he failed to qualify. "I don’t think I need to shy away from that."
He did anchor the U.S. to gold in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay for the eighth gold medal of his career. He is set to swim in the 4x100-meter individual medley relay final on Saturday.
It was a disappointing showing for one of the biggest stars of the Tokyo Games, but not all that unexpected given what he's been through.
A year after the pandemic-delayed 2021 Olympics, Dressel walked away from swimming in the middle of the world championships.
He desperately needed a break to recapture his love of swimming, which is still a bit of a work in progress. Dressel seems much happier now, welcoming his first child about five months ago, but he couldn't recapture that blazing speed from three years ago.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
