A Florida native, Dressel delivered the best single-match swimming performance thus far in the inaugural International Swimming League (ISL) season at the U.S. derby at the Eppley Recreation Center in College Park, Maryland.
He scored a total of 61.5 points for the Cali Condors (with Olympian Jason Lezak as the General Manager of the team) and earned the MVP honor for the second time this ISL season (he was previously named MVP in Naples, Italy), which makes him the athlete with the most MVP wins.
“I would much rather get the team title than the individual one,” he said, effusively. “I don’t care about the times or the MVP status. The team title would have been really nice. We will be better in the events to come in Las Vegas, so we have another shot. That’s really the whole point of the first three meets, to qualify for Vegas. We will be better as a team, as a collective whole,” he explained.
Dressel noted that there are some areas that he can improve on, and the same holds true for everyone. “There are areas that the whole team can improve on. It is a competition and it’s not an individual one. I’m a fierce competitor, but it’s for the team title that we were going for, and we didn’t get that. We have to set the standard a little bit higher next time,” he said.
When asked what he thinks he could improve on, he said, “I gotta figure out how to swim short meters. Goodness, gracious, especially butterfly. Both of my butterfly races are just bad. I need to figure out how to hit the walls better. It’s just about timing issues. The freestyle was all right. I need to figure out some breakout issues on the butterfly. A lot of it has to do with breakout work and turn work.”
“I thought my strokes were all right for where I am at in my training cycle,” he said. “I was actually pretty excited about how they felt, how the technique was. There was some good but there’s a lot of bad that I need to work on as well.”
He also opened up about his new podcast, “The Ben and Caeleb Show” on his YouTube channel, whose goal is “to help people.” “It’s something that me and my friend wanted to do,” he said.
“I don’t want my whole life to be just about swimming, and I don’t think it is,” Dressel said. “I was looking for something else. I do enjoy talking to people when I am in the mood. Most of the time, I like to keep to myself a lot. When I am in the mood, it’s fascinating what a lot of people have to say.”
“With Ben being my best friend, it really is a conversation with him. I don’t know all the answers. It’s just me and Ben sharing what helps us click, and then we will try to bring on some more guests. That’s exactly what it is. If Ben or I have something that might be able to help someone, that’s what our goal is here,” he elaborated.
“The Ben and Caeleb Show: Episode 1” may be seen below.
For more information on Olympic and world champion swimmer Caeleb Dressel, follow him on Instagram and on Twitter.
Read More: The world’s faster swimmer, Caeleb Dressel, chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos in September of 2019 about his wins at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, and serving as an ambassador for the International Swimming League.
