2012 He led off a 50-yard free relay with a time of 19.82, becoming the first swimmer under 16 years old to break 20 seconds.
2012 US Olympic Trials At the
2012 United States Olympic Trials, Dressel was the youngest male swimmer at 15 years of age and ranked 100th in the 200 meter individual medley in a time of 2:08.08, 121st in the 100 meter butterfly at 57.21 seconds, 121st with a time of 1:55.17 in the 200 meter freestyle, tied for 145th in the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 23.87 seconds, and tied for 152nd in the 100 meter freestyle with his time of 52.21 seconds. After not making the 2012 US Olympic Team, Dressel refocused and set his sights on the
2016 Summer Olympics.
2013 2013 World Junior Championships When Dressel was 17 years old, he won six medals, including a gold medal in the 100 meter freestyle in which he broke the
Championships record with his time of 48.97 seconds, at the
2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in
Dubai,
United Arab Emirates in August 2013. His time also broke the
National Age Group record set by
Michael Phelps in the 100 meter freestyle in 2004 for the 17–18 year old age group by eight hundredths of a second. His other medals were in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay and the mixed 4x100 meter freestyle relay, where he won a silver medal in each event, and in the 50 meter freestyle, 4x200 meter freestyle relay, and the mixed 4x100 meter medley relay in which he won a bronze medal in each. In addition to the events Dressel medaled in, he competed in the 200 meter freestyle where he finished sixth with a time of 1:49.29 and swam in the final of the 4x100 meter medley relay which did not place as it was disqualified.
2015 2015 NCAA Championships During his freshman year at the
University of Florida, Dressel won the
2015 NCAA title in the 50 yard freestyle when he was 18 years old with a time of 18.67 seconds, which was his first NCAA title, the first NCAA title for the
Florida Gators in the men's 50 yard freestyle, and set a new 17—18 national age group record in the event. With his performance, Dressel also became the fastest freshman in the 50 yard freestyle in the history of the
NCAA and the second-fastest American in the event, only behind
Nathan Adrian.
2015 National Championships At the senior
2015 National Championships (long course) in
San Antonio,
Texas, he won two individual titles, in the 50 meter and the 100 meter freestyle. His winning time of 21.53 in the 50 meter freestyle ranked 4th in the world for 2015.
2016 2016 NCAA Championships At the
2016 Men's NCAA Division I Championships, he broke the
American and US Open records in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 18.20 and the 100-yard freestyle with 40.46.
2016 US Olympic Trials At the
2016 US Olympic Trials, Dressel made the
2016 US Olympic Team in the 100 meter freestyle by finishing second with a time of 48.23 seconds, he also placed 4th in the 50 meter freestyle, 7th in the 100 meter butterfly, 32nd in the 200 meter freestyle, and was disqualified in the 200 meter individual medley for a false start. In addition to the five events he raced, Dressel had entered to compete in the 100 meter breaststroke with his best time of 1:02.26 and the 100 meter backstroke, and decided not to race the events. Dressel's performances leading up to and at the 2016 US Olympic Trials earned him recognition as America's best young sprinter by
Sports Illustrated and
CBS News. Overall, Dressel and coach
Gregg Troy chose a forwards mentality to Dressel's training, with Troy expressing Dressel's best could still be four, eight, or more years down the road. In the final, he swam the first leg in 48.10 seconds, which was the second-fastest lead-off relay leg in the finals heat, and was followed by relay teammates Michael Phelps,
Ryan Held, and
Nathan Adrian in that order. Of the 13 medals won by
Florida Gators at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Dressel became the first athlete to win a medal from the university's sports teams with this gold medal. Dressel and his teammates shared tears in the medal ceremony and while doing a victory lap around the pool after they received their medals, their tearful reactions were highlighted by local news outlet
The Florida Times-Union. The relay was also highlighted by
SwimSwam as one of their five unforgettable moments of the 2016 Summer Olympics. In the
100 meter freestyle, Dressel finished sixth in the final in a time of 48.02 seconds with fellow United States swimmer Nathan Adrian taking the bronze medal and
Kyle Chalmers of
Australia winning the gold medal. Dressel also swam freestyle in the heats of the
4×100 meter medley relay, and won his second gold medal of the 2016 Olympic Games when the finals relay of
Ryan Murphy (backstroke),
Cody Miller (breaststroke), Michael Phelps (butterfly), and Nathan Adrian (freestyle) placed first in Olympic record time. He swam a time of 47.74 seconds for the freestyle leg of the prelims relay consisting of him,
David Plummer (backstroke),
Kevin Cordes (breaststroke), and
Tom Shields (butterfly). At the
2017 NCAA Division I Championships, he broke the American and US Open records in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard freestyle with times of 43.58 and 40.00, respectively. He also tied his 50 freestyle record with an 18.20, the same as the preceding year.
2017 World Championships At the
2017 World Aquatics Championships in
Budapest,
Hungary, Dressel won seven gold medals and set numerous American records. Dressel was named the male swimmer of the meet. He also became the second swimmer to win seven gold medals at a single World Championships, after Michael Phelps in 2007. On the first day of competition, July 23, Dressel set the
American record in the
50 meter butterfly with a time of 22.76, topping the semifinals. Later that evening in the
4×100 meter freestyle relay, Dressel set the American record in the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 47.26 in the leadoff leg. Combined with
Townley Haas,
Blake Pieroni, and Nathan Adrian, the American team won gold with a time of 3:10.06, earning him his first gold of the Championships. On day two, Dressel finished fourth in the 50 meter butterfly final with a time of 22.89, missing a medal by 0.05 seconds. On day four, Dressel took part in the 4×100 meter mixed medley relay, swimming the butterfly leg and splitting a 49.92. Along with teammates
Matt Grevers,
Lilly King, and
Simone Manuel, the American team won gold in a new world-record time of 3:38.56. That time broke the record set earlier in the day by
Ryan Murphy,
Kevin Cordes,
Kelsi Worrell, and
Mallory Comerford. On day five, Dressel re-set the
100-meter freestyle American record with a 47.17 in the 100 meter freestyle final, en route to winning gold by a margin of 0.70 seconds over silver medalist and teammate Nathan Adrian. On day seven, Dressel became the first swimmer ever to win three gold medals on a single day. He won the
50 meter freestyle in 21.15, a new
world textile best time. Half an hour later he won the
100 meter butterfly in 49.86, again a new world textile best and 0.04 seconds above the world record held by Michael Phelps. The third gold medal came in the
4×100 meter mixed freestyle relay, where he led off in 47.22. Dressel and teammates Adrian, Comerford, and Manuel broke the world record for this relay with a time of 3:19.60. On the eighth and last day of competition, Dressel won his 7th gold in the
4×100-meter medley relay. Swimming the butterfly leg, Dressel recorded a time of 49.76 and the American team of Matt Grevers, Kevin Cordes, and Nathan Adrian won with a time of 3:27.91.
2018 2018 SEC Championships At the 2018
Southeastern Conference, SEC, Swimming and Diving Championships in
College Station, Texas, in February, Dressel lowered his best time in the 100 yard breaststroke from a 51.88 to a 50.03, which broke the former
American, US Open, and NCAA records set by
Kevin Cordes in 2014 at 50.04 by one hundredth of a second. Earlier in the Championships, Dressel also set a new American record in the 200 yard individual medley with his time of 1:38.13, lowering the record set by
David Nolan in 2015 by 0.25 seconds. Dressel's 100 yard breaststroke record garnered the attention of 2016 Olympic bronze medalist in breaststroke,
Cody Miller, who produced a perspective piece on the American record and posted it to his, Miller's,
YouTube channel less than two weeks after Dressel broke the record. Later on, in August 2020, Dressel provided his analysis of the record in a video and put it on his own YouTube channel.
2018 NCAA Championships At the
2018 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in March, Dressel won all three of his individual races, and won his first relay national title. On day 2 of the competition, March 22, 2018, Dressel broke the NCAA, American, and US Open records in the 50 yard freestyle thrice. He first swam an 18.11 in the individual preliminaries race in the morning session. He later improved upon that record in the evening leading off The
University of Florida's national championship winning relay with a 17.81 split, and finalized his record with a 17.63 in the 50 yard freestyle final. The next day, he broke the American and US open records in the 100 yard butterfly, swimming a 42.80. On the final day of competition, Dressel won the 100 yard freestyle by more than a second in a time of 39.90, completing his sweep of individual events for a second time. This secured him CSCAA Swimmer of the Meet honors for the third year in a row, as he became the first swimmer ever to break the 18 second 50 free barrier, the 40 second 100 free barrier, and the 43 second 100 fly barrier in the history of yards swimming. His split of 17.30 on the 4×50 yard medley relay marked the fastest 50 yard freestyle split time in the history of the
NCAA.
2018 National Championships In advance of the 2018 National Championships, Dressel was highlighted by
NBC Sports as one of ten swimmers to watch at the meet with his entries in the 50 meter freestyle, 50 meter breaststroke, 50 meter butterfly, 100 meter freestyle, 100 meter breaststroke, 100 meter butterfly, 200 meter freestyle, and 200 meter individual medley. At the
2018 US National Championships held in July 2018 in
Irvine, California, Dressel won the 100 meter butterfly with a time of 50.50 seconds after finishing second in the 50 meter butterfly and sixth in the 100 meter freestyle. Dressel's win in the 100 meter butterfly secured him a spot on the Pan Pacific Championships team, where he could also compete in the 100 meter freestyle even though he finished sixth because qualified athletes were allowed to compete in any event at the meet. He also placed second in the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 21.67, just 0.18 seconds behind
Michael Andrew, and decided not to swim the 50 meter breaststroke, 100 meter breaststroke, 200 meter freestyle, and 200 meter individual medley.
2018 Pan Pacific Championships In August 2018 at the
2018 Pan Pacific Championships in
Tokyo, Japan, Dressel won the
100 meter butterfly after tying for second place in the
100 meter freestyle. His winning time of 50.75 seconds in the 100 meter butterfly set a new
Championships record in the event. He won the silver medal in the
50 meter freestyle with a time of 21.93, finishing only behind fellow American Michael Andrew, and won a gold medal in the
4x100 meter medley relay alongside Ryan Murphy who swam backstroke,
Andrew Wilson who swam breaststroke, and Nathan Adrian who swam freestyle. In the
mixed 4x100 meter medley relay, Dressel swam the butterfly leg of the relay with a split time of 50.50 seconds, helping the relay consisting of him,
Kathleen Baker, Michael Andrew, and Simone Manuel, finish third and win the bronze medal with a final time of 3:41.74. After the meet, reports surfaced that Dressel had missed two weeks of training in June while recovering from a motorcycle accident, which had perhaps hampered his performance and prevented him for equaling his times from the previous year.
2018 World Short Course Championships At the
2018 World Short Course Championships in
Hangzhou,
China in December 2018, Dressel tied
Kelsi Dahlia for the most number of medals won at the World Championships meet with nine medals, he won six gold medals to Dahlia's seven. He swam on the same finals relay as
Olivia Smoliga in the
mixed 4x50 meter medley relay, both helping set a new
swimming world record in the event and win the gold medal. Dressel's efforts contributed to Smoliga's winning eight gold medals at the Championships and breaking Dressel's former
Guinness World Record for "most number of gold medals won at a single FINA World Championships (individual)", which he held from 2017 when he won seven gold medals. Dressel won the silver medal in the
100 meter butterfly with a time of 48.71 seconds, twenty-one hundredths of a second behind gold medalist
Chad le Clos of
South Africa. In the
4x50 meter freestyle relay, Dressel swam in the final, helped the relay earn the gold medal and set a world record in the event, and split a 20.43 on the first leg of the relay, setting a new American record in the 50 meter freestyle. For the
50 meter freestyle individual race, Dressel won the silver medal with a time of 20.54 seconds. Along with Blake Pieroni,
Michael Chadwick, and Ryan Held in the final of the
4x100 meter freestyle relay, Dressel won a gold medal with the relay finishing in a
world record time of 3:03:03. He also won a gold medal in the
mixed 4x50 meter freestyle relay in world record time, a gold medal in the
4x100 meter medley relay in
Americas record and
Championships record time, the silver medal in the
4x50 meter medley relay in
American record time, and entered as one of two male American swimmers in the
50 meter butterfly, though decided not to swim in the event at the Championships.
2019 World Championships At the
2019 World Aquatics Championships held in
Gwangju,
South Korea, he first won a gold as part of the team in
men's 4×100 meter freestyle relay. He then won gold in the
50 meter butterfly, an event he failed to win in 2017. He is the first American man to win that event, and he set a new national and championship record time of 22.35 seconds for the event. This is followed by a national record and the third fastest time in history (46.96) in the
100 meter freestyle. In the
100 meter butterfly event, Dressel broke Michael Phelps' ten-year-old record by 0.32 second in the semi-final, setting a new world-record time of 49.50 seconds. He won gold in the final the following day. That same day within two hours, Dressel won two more gold medals – in the
50 meter freestyle in a Championships record time, and as part of the team in the
mixed 4×100 meter freestyle relay, which was won in a world-record time of 3 minutes, 19.40 seconds. This was a repeat of his achievement in Hungary in 2017, and it was also the first time anyone won three gold medals in one day at the Championships two times. In the final day of the Championships, Dressel helped win a silver medal in the
men's 4×100 meter medley relay. The medal was the eighth that Dressel won at the Championships, and the most medals of any type that a person had won at a single
long course Championships. FINA named Dressel male swimmer of the meet, which he also won in 2017.
International Swimming League In 2019 he was a member of the inaugural
International Swimming League representing the Cali Condors, who finished third place in the final match in Las Vegas, Nevada in December. Dressel won the Most Valuable Player of the match honor in all 3 matches he participated in as well as winning the skins race each time. Dressel swam the 50 meter freestyle in Las Vegas and beat
Florent Manaudou's world record of 20.26 from 2014 by going a 20.24. He also won the 100 meter freestyle, 100 meter butterfly, and 50 meter butterfly.
2020 International Swimming League Continuing to represent the Cali Condors, Dressel broke four world records in the 100-meter butterfly (at 47.78 seconds) and the 50-meter freestyle world record, which he already held (to 20.16 seconds). He is the first person to swim the 100-meter butterfly in less than 48 seconds. He also broke his own 100 IM record twice, dropping it to 49.88 the first time, and 49.28 the second time. These two record breaks occurred one weekend after he was the first swimmer to ever do the 100-meter individual medley in under 50 seconds.
2020 US Olympic Trials In total, Dressel qualified to compete in seven events at the Olympic Trials: the 50 meter freestyle, 100 meter freestyle, 200 meter freestyle, 100 meter butterfly, 200 meter butterfly, 100 meter breaststroke, and 200 meter individual medley. On day two of the
2020 USA Swimming Olympic Trials (held in June 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic), June 14, 2021, Dressel competed in the 200 meter freestyle prelims in the morning, swimming a 1:46.63 and ranking 2nd overall for the heats. Dressel's swim moved him up in rankings to the all-time 20th fastest American in the event. Following his morning swim, Dressel decided not to swim in the event's semifinals. On day four of competition, Wednesday June 16, 2021, Dressel ranked 5th out of all prelims heats in the 100 meter freestyle swimming a 48.25 and advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals in the evening of the same day, Dressel ranked first with a time of 47.77 and advanced to the final. On day five, June 17, 2021, Dressel won the 100 m freestyle with a time of 47.39 and
qualifying him for the
US Olympic Swimming team in the
100 m freestyle and the
freestyle relay for the
2020 Summer Olympics. He tied the US Open record and Championships record for the 100 meter freestyle with his swim. On day six, Dressel won the prelims heats of the 100 meter butterfly with a 50.17 breaking the US Open record and Championships record. On the same day in the semifinals, he improved further on his US Open record dropping it to a 49.76, earning Dressel the top 3 times in history in the event. In the morning of day seven, Dressel swam a 21.29 in the prelims heats of the 50 meter freestyle, taking first, breaking the Championships record, and advancing to the semifinals. In the evening of day seven, Dressel swam in the final of the 100 meter butterfly and the semifinals of the 50 meter freestyle. In the final of the 100 meter butterfly, Dressel swam a 49.87, winning the final and swimming under 50 seconds for the fifth time. His swim qualified him to represent the United States in the
100 meter butterfly at the 2020 Summer Olympics. On the final day, Dressel qualified to swim the
50 meter freestyle at the 2020 Olympic Games by winning the final with a time of 21.04. Dressel's swim also tied his personal best time and set a new US Open record. Dressel's engagement with fans, including a look-alike, and embracing being a role model for swimmers across America during the Olympic Trials led
Swimming World to herald Dressel as "the face of USA Swimming's men's team".
2020 Summer Olympics Dressel was selected as one of two male USA swimming captains for the
2020 Summer Olympics in
Tokyo, Japan, held in August 2021, along with
Ryan Murphy. On day three of competition, Dressel won his first medal at the 2020 Olympics swimming in the finals of the
4x100 meter freestyle relay. He helped the relay win the gold medal, swimming the relay's lead-off leg and splitting the second fastest time among his relay teammates
Blake Pieroni,
Bowe Becker, and
Zach Apple with a 47.26. On day four, Dressel ranked second overall in the prelims heats of the
100 meter freestyle with a time of 47.73 and advanced to the semifinals. The following morning of competition, he swam a 47.23 in his semifinal heat and advanced to the final ranking second for both semifinal heats. Dressel won his first individual Olympic gold medal in the final of the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 47.02, a new Olympic record.
People and
Parade magazines highlighted Dressel and his wife, Meghan, for their tearful reaction to him winning the 100 meter freestyle in Olympic record time, with his wife's eruption of emotion leading
People to dub Meghan as their pick for the "Olympic gold medal for most celebratory spouse watching from halfway around the world in a pandemic".
People not only recognized his wife, they also recognized Caeleb Dressel for his physique, naming him as their "Sexiest Olympian" for the 2020 Olympic Games. In the evening of day six, Dressel tied the Olympic record in the
100 meter butterfly with a time of 50.39 in the prelims heats. This first Olympic record in the 100 meter butterfly Dressel set less than nine hours after setting the Olympic record in the 100 meter freestyle. In the second semifinal heat of the 100 meter butterfly on day seven, Dressel swam a 49.71 and broke the Olympic record of 50.31
Kristóf Milák set in the first semifinal heat. Later on day seven, Dressel swam three hundredths of a second off from setting a new Olympic record in the prelims of the
50 meter freestyle with his time of 21.32 and advanced to the semifinals ranked first. On day eight, Dressel won the final of the 100 meter butterfly in a world record time of 49.45. In his second race, Dressel ranked first overall in the semifinals of the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 21.42 and advanced to the final. In his last race of the day, the final of the
4x100 meter mixed medley relay, Dressel finished in fifth place with his relay teammates Ryan Murphy,
Lydia Jacoby, and
Torri Huske. His world record and gold medal win in the 100 meter butterfly was chosen by
Olympics.com as their number three moment in swimming at the 2020 Olympic Games. On the final day, Dressel won the gold medal in 50 meter freestyle with an Olympic record time of 21.07. Later in the same session, Dressel won the gold medal in the
4x100 meter medley relay and set a new
world record for the event of 3:26.78 in the final with his relay teammates Ryan Murphy,
Michael Andrew, and Zach Apple. By
winning gold in five events at a single Olympic Games, Dressel became the fifth swimmer to achieve this feat. For the addition of the world record in the 4x100 meter medley relay to Dressel's list, he was awarded the
Guinness World Record for "Most FINA world records held by an individual (current)" on August 11, 2021, for his then current 9
FINA world records. His gold medal-winning performances at the 2020 Olympic Games also earned him the 2021
James E. Sullivan Award. After the Olympic Games, Dressel took a break from swimming for a few weeks due to mental health concerns, returning to competition in late August as part of the
International Swimming League. In November 2021, Dressel amicably parted ways with his long-time coach
Gregg Troy, regarding whom he has said "I owe him everything." Dressel moved under the direction of
Anthony Nesty, who succeeded Troy as the head coach at the University of Florida in 2018.
International Swimming League In the
2021 International Swimming League, Dressel was selected early on in the draft process as a protected swimmer to compete for the Cali Condors again. He started his competition in the 2021 season on August 28 in the second match of the season, and the first match of the season his team competed in, earning the second-most MVP points in the match with 93 points. For the fourth match of the regular season, Dressel earned match Most Valuable Player, MVP, honors with a total of 112.5 MVP points, which was over 50 points ahead of the next-highest scorer Kelsi Dahlia also of the Cali Condors. In match six, Dressel swam a personal best time of 1:51.14 in the 200 meter individual medley, finishing second only behind
Daiya Seto of the
Tokyo Frog Kings. His swim also registered Dressel as the second fastest American swimmer in the event, a slim second and a half slower than American
Ryan Lochte who set the world record in the event at 1:49.63 in 2012. Partway through the regular season, in mid-September 2021, Dressel and team general manager
Jason Lezak decided Dressel would withdraw from competing for the remainder of the regular season and return for the playoffs. For the first match of the playoffs season, Dressel joined fellow Cali Condors teammate and Olympian
Hali Flickinger in not partaking in match competition. For the fourth match of the playoffs season, Dressel was entered on the start lists for a number of events including the 50 meter freestyle where he entered to compete against Kyle Chalmers of
London Roar. Come race time, Dressel placed third the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 21.04, finishing seven-hundredths of a second behind first-place finisher Kyle Chalmers and earning 6.0 points for his team. He swam the anchor leg of the 4x100 meter freestyle relay for his next race, splitting a 47.26 and helping the relay place third. In the 4x100 meter medley relay Dressel got his first win of the match, splitting the second fastest time, a 49.60, for the butterfly leg of the relay, faster than the third-fastest split of 50.03 by Kyle Chalmers and slower than the split of 48.83 by
Tom Shields of
LA Current. On the second and final day of match competition, Dressel won his first individual event of the playoffs season in the 100 meter individual medley with a time of 51.67 seconds that earned his team 10.0 points. In his final race of the match, the 4x100 meter mixed medley relay, Dressel helped his relay place fifth and earn 8.0 points for the Cali Condors. Following his playoffs match four performances, Cali Condors team manager Jason Lezak made the executive decision to have Dressel sit out of the final playoffs match so Dressel could conserve energy for the final match. On the first day of the final match, Dressel helped set new Americas and American records in the 4×100 meter medley relay with
Coleman Stewart (backstroke),
Nic Fink (breaststroke), and
Justin Ress (freestyle), splitting a time of 49.01 seconds for the butterfly leg of the relay to help achieve a time of 3:19.64. Dressel also won the 100 meter individual medley in a time of 50.74 seconds, earning 9 points for his team, and won the 50 meter butterfly skins competition with a time of 23.05 seconds in the final head-to-head competition against Tom Shields.
2022 International team trials The
2022 USA Swimming International Team Trials were from April 26 to April 30 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Caeleb Dressel swam the 50 freestyle, the 100 freestyle, the 50 butterfly, and the 100 butterfly. He won all four of those events and is set to swim them at the world championships in Budapest, Hungary.
2022 World Championships On the first day of the
2022 World Championships, Dressel led-off the
4×100 meter freestyle relay in a time of 47.67 seconds, helping achieve the first relay gold medal of the Championships for the United States. The next day, he backed up the gold medal in the relay with a gold medal in the
50 meter butterfly, finishing first with a time of 22.57 seconds, which was over two-tenths of a second faster than silver medalist
Nicholas Santos of
Brazil. On the fourth day of the world championships, Dressel swam the
100 meter freestyle in the prelims heats to achieve the second-fastest seed going into the semifinals. However, he decided to withdraw from further competition for health reasons.
2025 Caleb has teamed up with his college sprint coach, Stephen Jungbluth, in Jacksonville and has joined the
Sporting Jax Aquatic Club. ==Results in major championships==