On Top Again: Caeleb Dressel Goes 1:38 200 Yard IM

2018 SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 14 – Sunday, February 18
• Rec Center Natatorium, College Station, TX (Central Time Zone)
• Prelims 10AM / Finals 6PM
• Defending Champion: Florida (5x) (results)
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live results
• Live Video (finals)

University of Florida senior Caeleb Dressel has stamped his name atop another all-time list with a 1:38.13 in the 200 IM on Thursday at the 2018 SEC Championship Meet. In his first individual swim of the meet (he forsook his 50 free, where he’s also the best of all-time, to swim the 200 IM), he surpassed David Nolan’s US Open, NCAA, and American Records of 1:39.38.

Dressel also broke Texas A&M’s Pool Record of 1:40.49 set by fellow Gator Bradley Ally at the 2009 NCAA Championship meet. The old SEC Meet Record was a 1:41.28 done by Georgia’s Chase Kalisz at the 2017 edition. Kalisz carried on to win the 200 IM and 400 IM titles at the 2017 World Championships.

Dressel built a predictable lead on the record in the fly, and gave it right back on the backstroke (his weakest stroke and Nolan’s strongest). The biggest surprise is how much damage he put on Nolan on the breaststroke leg – neither is primarily a breaststroker, but both have shown that if they pushed the stroke, that they could be among the best in the NCAA.

Then on the freestyle, with the record essentially in-hand, Dressel put down a monster 23.72 split on his freestyle leg and very nearly blew right through to a 1:37.

For comparison’s sake, his time is faster than the American Record in the 200 yard freestyle set in 1972. The runner-up, Hugo Gonzalez of Auburn, not only also broke the Meet Record – he is now tied as the 10th-best performer in history, and was still 2nd by 2.5 seconds.

Comparative Splits:

Fastest Performers, All-Time, 200 IM:

1. Caeleb Dressel, 2018 – 1:38.13
2. David Nolan, 2015 – 1:39.38
3. Will Licon, 2016 – 1:40.04
4. Ryan Lochte, 2007 – 1:40.08
5. Josh Prenot, 2016 – 1:40.14
6. Ryan Murphy, 2016 – 1:40.27
7. Bradley Ally, 2009 – 1:40.49
8. (TIE) Michael Phelps, 2010/Marcin Cieslak, 2014 – 1:40.58
10. (TIE)Mark Szaranek, 2017/Hugo Gonzalez, 2018  – 1:40.67