2023 SPEEDO ATLANTA CLASSIC
- Friday, May 12 – Sunday, May 14, 2023
- McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Stream
- Day 1 Prelims – Heat Sheets
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap
At a meet filled with many of swimming’s biggest stars, one of the draws of the 2023 Atlanta Classic is that it’s Caeleb Dressel‘s return to racing after leaving World Championships early last June and taking a break from the sport. However, we’ll all have to wait a little longer to see him back in the water, as he’s declared a false start (DFS) his first event of the meet, the 200 freestyle.
The 26-year-old Dressel was seeded third in the event, with an entry time of 1:47.58. It’s not an event that’s usually on his schedule, but fans are often eager to see what kind of time he can put up, especially if it would be a useful time for the U.S.’s 4×200 freestyle relay. Dressel’s lifetime best is 1:46.63 from 2020 Olympic Trials. He swam that time to qualify second out of the heats before scratching semifinals.
He’s still entered in the 100 fly, where he’s seeded seventh (53.75). That’s well off his lifetime best of 49.45, which also stands as the world record. If he swims, the 100 fly final could be a very interesting race between him and Olympian and Canadian record-holder Josh Liendo. Given that there was only one event–the 100 breast–between prelims of the 200 freestyle and 100 fly, that could have been a factor in Dressel’s decision to forgo the 200 freestyle here in Atlanta.
In addition to the 200 free and 100 fly, there are heats of the 100 breast and 400 IM racing during the first session of the meet.
I think this is one of the (many) reasons swimming is hard to turn into a mainstream sport. Not only from a fan’s perspective, as in paying for a ticket or tuning in to see your favorite swimmer, only for them to leave an empty leane. It also makes it difficult to advertise and even bet on when any one athlete can enter a bunch of events and just simply choose to not show up without much for consequences.
While I understand athletes are people and may have a large number of reasons for leaving an empty lane, the reality is that nothing stops them from entering a bunch of events they are realistically not going to swim and later… Read more »
10 years ago I flew to LA to catch a Lakers game. It was the mourning of the game when I first learned Kobe Bryant got injured and will not even suit up for the match. This happens in all types of sports. At least in swimming you have 40 other events to watch, though I understand what you mean and I would definitely be disappointed if I were to buy a ticket and find out last-minute the person I came to watch isn’t participating.
Has the Popovicism come back?
Like everything about Caeleb – A damp squib
Come on Caeleb, is this a joke? Scratch it or swim it. It’s easy like that.
Perhaps someone could explain to me why all the fuss about entering an event – only to end up with DFS?
If nothing else, 200 free is a nice ‘warm up’ for 100 fly??