Hey guys! Welcome to this week's video from Propulsion Swimming and this week
we're going to be doing a Blackboard Breakdown of probably the best swimmer of 2020, Caeleb
Dressel. So in this video, we're going to give you guys a simple guide
to who Caeleb is, what achievements he's had so far in swimming, and really why he is just so
special in the water, and setting all of these incredible times that you've heard about. Okay so,
let's start with who Caeleb Dressel is. So he is an American sprinter who predominantly races
freestyle and butterfly, but in short course meets he will also race breaststroke and the
individual medley, just like he did in this year's ISL. Now while we talk ISL, he competes
for the Cali Condors and is team captain. But his regular swim team is the Gators Swim Team
over in Florida and his head coach is Greg Troy. Now a fun fact about Dressel for all the glory
and celebration that he has been given so far in his career, he is yet to win an individual
Olympic medal. He has two golds to his name right now and both of those came in relays in 2016.
That doesn't mean however, he hasn't achieved some amazing international honours. At the 2017
World Championships in Budapest he won seven gold medals and became the first man to win three gold
medals in one day and this seven medal haul at World Championships is only matched by the great
Michael Phelps. But he didn't stop there... At the World Championships in 2019 he became
the first swimmer to win eight medals in a single championship, winning six golds and two silvers.
And during these World Championships, I think he set his most impressive time ever in the
100m butterfly where he went 49.5 seconds to break a previous super suit record held by
Michael Phelps. In fact, he is the first man since 2007 to hold a world record at short course yards,
short course meters, and long course meters in one single event. And this short course
dominance was underlined when he went on to break four world records in three events at this year's
ISL in Budapest. He set new leading times in the 100 butterfly, the 100 IM and the 50m freestyle.
So what makes Caeleb Dressel just so good. Well he is regarded as having one of the best starts
in history and is always the first swimmer to 15 meters. At the World Championships in 2017 he was
recorded as the first person to ever go under five seconds for the first 15 meters of a race which
is just astonishing. So when he's on the block he has really high hips and he's leaning back, which
yes sacrifices a bit of his reaction time, but it gives him extra power and explosiveness when he is
springing off that block. Now another key element is his vertical jump. It has been recorded at
104cm which is huge. To put that into perspective, the average NBA draftee has a vertical jump
of 74cm. And then once he gets in the water, his underwater dolphin leg kick is second to none.
He uses both the upbeat and the downbeat movement of his dolphin leg kick to really propel himself
through the water. And he even keeps doing dolphin kick until he's made that first breakout stroke so
that he maintains his momentum. As well as his start there are several other factors that need
to be taken into consideration when we look at just why Caeleb Dressel is as fast as he
is. In the ISL final of the 50m freestyle, we saw his incredible stroke rate and his underwater work
doesn't just stop off the dive. He also uses it to great effect off every single turn and wall
which is very rare for a sprinter to do, but he really does take full advantage of his strengths.
Now he is also one of the biggest swimming nerds that you will find and he loves perfecting his
craft day in day out with his coach Greg Troy. You can really see this in every race he does, there's
a real enjoyment of swimming. So what does the future hold for Caeleb Dressel? Well at the Tokyo
2021 Olympics he will be going in as favourite in many of the events and we are sure that he is
going to finally get that first individual Olympic gold. Make sure you keep an eye on this guy
for the foreseeable future because he's really going to set the world of swimming alight if he
hasn't already done so. I've been Scott, you've been watching the Propulsion Swimming YouTube
channel. Please SUBSCRIBE if you have enjoyed this video and I will catch you on the next one!