Caeleb Dressel, Simone Manuel settle for relay spots at US Olympic swim trials

Returning from long layoffs, American swimming stars Caeleb Dressel and Simone Manuel had to settle for relay spots at the Olympic Games on Wednesday evening.

Dressel, the winner of five gold medals at the Tokyo Games, will not get a chance to defend his 100m freestyle title in Paris after finishing third at the US trials behind Chris Guiliano and Jack Alexy.

Manuel finished fourth in the women’s 100 freestyle, with potential breakout star Kate Douglass claiming victory and Torri Huske taking second place.

Only the top two in each event are allowed to race individually at the Olympics, but the top four are guaranteed a spot in the 4×100 freestyle relays.

Dressel was all smiles as he hugged the boys in front of him and said he was happy to take part in the relay that will set its sights on setting the world record at the Olympics.

“That’s an incredibly fast top four, top five – oh my gosh, top six,” he said, looking at the times on the scoreboard at Lucas Oil Stadium. “That’s a great group of guys. It’s fast.”

Dressel and Manuel still have a chance to win individual races in Paris. Dressel has the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly – two other events he won in Tokyo – while Manuel has the 50 free.

In perhaps the surest bet of the trials, Katie Ledecky earned her third win at Lucas Oil Stadium with another dominant performance in the 1,500 freestyle.

Ledecky added to her victories in the 200 and 400 free, although she does not plan to swim the shorter event in Paris. She is also a heavy favorite to win the 800 free title before leaving Indy.

Manuel, the first black woman to win individual swimming gold when she took first place in that event at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, had hoped to complete her comeback from overtraining syndrome by claiming a spot in the 100 free.

It didn’t work out, but Manuel was clearly moved because he was only on a relay.

“It means the world to me,” she said, breaking down in tears on deck in front of the crowd of 22,209 people. “It’s a miracle that I can even stand here and race again. The people close to me know the journey it took to get here. I am very proud of myself and proud of Team USA.”

Douglass only finished fourth at the turn, but she cruised to the finish for a winning time of 52.56 seconds. Huske finished in 52.93, while Gretchen Walsh disappeared from the lead at the halfway point and finished third in 53.13.

Manuel was next at 53.25, while Abbey Weitzeil in fifth (53.70) was also likely heading to her third Olympic Games as a relay option.

In the men’s race, Guiliano and Alexy were tied on the turn, but Guiliano cleared the wall in 47.38, leaving Alexy behind by nine-hundredths of a second. The margin was even closer to third, with Dressel missing out on an individual spot by just six-hundredths.

After starring in Tokyo, Dressel left the sport in the middle of the 2022 world championships, later revealing he had to leave for an extended period to rediscover his love for the sport.

“I’m trying to have fun, I’m having fun,” Dressel told the large crowd. ‘You don’t know how much it means to me, the love I get from you. It’s been tough.”

Hunter Armstrong finished fourth, while Ryan Held and Matt King were also likely to be added to the Olympic team as relay swimmers.

The other winners Wednesday night were 17-year-old Thomas Heilman in the men’s 200 butterfly and Matthew Fallon in the 200 breaststroke.

Ledecky hit the ball in 15 minutes, 37.35 seconds, over half a lap ahead of runner-up Katie Grimes in 15:57.77.

“I was hoping to go a little faster, but I’m going for it,” said Ledecky, whose six individual gold medals are already the most for any female swimmer in Olympic history. “I’ll be better in a few weeks.”

Grimes won her second individual event in Paris, adding to her victory in the 400 individual medley. She will swim both indoors and outdoors at the Olympics and claim a spot in the 10 kilometer open water race.

Manuel won two gold and two silver medals at the Rio Games, a breakthrough performance for swimmers of color in a largely white sport. But her body buckled under the pressure of overtraining syndrome ahead of the pandemic-postponed games in Tokyo.

Manuel didn’t even qualify to defend her 100 freestyle title, though she did rally to earn a spot in the 50 freestyle. In Tokyo, she was eliminated in the semifinals of her only individual event, with her only medal coming as the anchor for the 4×100 free relay team that finished third.

After the Olympics, her doctor instructed her to stop all physical activity for more than six months to give her body time to properly recover.

Douglass had built on a bronze medal in the 200 individual medley in Tokyo to become one of America’s most versatile swimmers.

She won a total of 14 medals at the last three world championships, from the freestyle to the breaststroke, from the individual medley to the relay.

Now she’s heading back to the Olympics, though there’s still plenty of work to do in Indy.

Douglass competed in five events, leading to a grueling double Wednesday. She bounced back from her 100 freestyle win to take the top time in the 200 freestyle semifinals, making her the favorite over local favorite Lilly King in Thursday’s final.

Heilman becomes the youngest American male Olympic swimmer since Michael Phelps made the team for Sydney at age 15.

18-year-old Luke Whitlock had claimed that distinction the night before with his second-place finish in the 800 freestyle. Then someone even younger made the team when Heilman touched the ball first in 1 minute, 54.50 seconds.

“It will be great. I’m just looking forward to hanging out with the team and building relationships that will last a lifetime,” said Heilman. “Going to the Olympic Games is a unique experience. I look forward to cherishing every moment.”

Luca Urlando took the expected second place in Paris with a time of 1:55.08.