Dressel denied again at US swimming's world championship trials

LOS ANGELES: Seven-time Olympic swimming gold medallist Caeleb Dressel was denied again in his bid to return to the World Championships on Thursday (Jun 29), finishing tied for fifth in the 100m butterfly at the US championships in Indianapolis.

Dressel, who set the world record in winning 100m fly Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, is competing this week in his first major meet since withdrawing from last year's World Championships in Budapest.

Months away from the pool have made a difference this week for the US star, who was 29th in the preliminaries of the 100m free before a third-place finish in the 50m butterfly - an encouraging performance but not enough to make the team for next month's World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

In fact, Dressel was ninth-fastest in the 100m fly heats on Thursday, but gained a place in the championship final when Ryan Murphy pulled out of the event.

Dressel couldn't capitalise as Dare Rose won in a personal best of 50.74sec with 16-year-old Thomas Heilman second in 51.91.

Heilman, who was second in the 200m fly, became the youngest American male swimmer to qualify for two individual World Championships events as Dressel finished 92-hundredths of a second off the pace.

Dressel, who won the 100m fly, 100m free and 50m free at the Tokyo Games, will have one more shot this week in the 50m freestyle.

He has largely declined to discuss his decision to step away from the pool and his comeback, with coach Anthony Nesty telling broadcaster NBC before the championships that training-wise, he did a really nice job coming back.

"All we can do is support Caeleb where he's at," Nesty said. "And he knows where he's at."

In other events Thursday, Torri Huske lined up a defence of the 100m fly world title she won