Dressel won the men’s 50 meter butterfly with a time of 22.35 seconds, where he set a new championship record and a new American record. Russian swimmer Oleg Kostin won a silver medal with a time of 22.70 seconds, and Brazilian athlete Nicholas Santos came in third place with 22.79 seconds.
Fellow American swimmer Michael Andrew finished in fourth place with a new personal best of 22.80 seconds.
Following his gold medal win, Dressel expressed that he was really happy with the 50 meter butterfly race and he is pleased to have won the gold. It was a faster race than two years ago, and he’s in a better place than he was two years ago. The 22-year-old American swimmer added that he is happy to “keep that ball rolling.”
With Dressel’s gold medal win, Team USA won their first-ever gold in the men’s 50 meter butterfly event at the world championship level; moreover, this marks Dressel’s ninth career gold medal in the World Championships (in a long course pool).
Should Dressel win an additional gold medal at the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, he will make history and become the seventh American swimmer to win double-digit medals on the world championship level, where he will join such esteemed swimmers as Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Nathan Adrian, Aaron Peirsol, Matt Bondi, and Matt Grevers.
In addition, on July 21, Dressel won a gold medal as part of the men’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay at the FINA World Championships, along with teammates Blake Pieroni, Zach Apple, and Nathan Adrian.
