Olympic champ Caeleb Dressel falls short at U.S. swim trials

Reigning Olympic men's 100-meter freestyle champion Caeleb Dressel won't have a chance to defend that title next month in Paris after finishing in third place at the U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials in Indianapolis on Wednesday.

Dressel finished in third place at 47.53 seconds, with Chris Guiliano (47.38) and Jack Alexy (47.47) earning the U.S. team's two berths in the Olympic 100 freestyle field.

However, the result gives Dressel a spot on the U.S. 4x100 freestyle relay team, giving him a chance to win gold in that event for a third consecutive Olympics. After being part of two winning relay teams at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Dressel won both relays again in Tokyo in 2021 while adding golds in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly.

The top four in the U.S. trials will make up the 4x100 freestyle squad. In all events, the top two earn individual Olympic spots.

Also on Wednesday, 2016 Olympic women's 100 freestyle winner Simone Manuel failed to make the U.S. squad as an individual, coming in fourth place at 53.25 seconds. She wound up behind Kate Douglass (52.56) and Torri Huske (52.93), who claimed the individual berths, and Gretchen Walsh (53.13), who also captured a relay spot.

Katie Ledecky easily won the women's 1,500 freestyle, finishing in 15:37.35. Katie Grimes came in second at 15:57.77, and Ashley Twichell wound up third in 16:08.07. Ledecky won four gold medals in Rio de Janeiro and added two more in Tokyo, and she already finished on top in Indianapolis in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle.

Matthew Fallon set a U.S. record in the men's 200 breaststroke, winning in 2:06.54. The old mark of 2:07.17 was set by Josh Prenot in 2016. Josh Matheny took second place in 2:08.86.

Thomas Heilman won the men's 200 butterfly in 1 minute, 54.50 seconds, with Luca Urlando taking second place at 1:55.08. Mason Laur (1:55.37) just missed out, finishing in third place.

The trials run through Sunday.

--Field Level Media