Caeleb Dressel secured his spot to defend his 50m freestyle Olympic title in Paris by winning the event at the US Olympic swimming trials on Friday. Dressel, who claimed five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, including the 50m and 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly, achieved his first individual qualification for Paris after finishing third in the 100m freestyle earlier in the trials.

The 27-year-old American swimmer, who has a total of seven Olympic golds, took a break from swimming in 2022 and did not make the US team for the 2023 world championships. However, Dressel showed a return to form at the trials held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, clocking 21.41 seconds in the 50m freestyle. Chris Guiliano, who had already won the 100m freestyle and finished second in the 200m freestyle during the week, was the runner-up in 21.69 seconds, narrowly beating Matt King who finished third by just one-hundredth of a second with a time of 21.70.

Dressel also posted the fastest time of 50.79 seconds in the 100m butterfly semi-finals, indicating his readiness for further competition.

Regan Smith also had a standout performance, concluding her impressive week with a win in the 200m backstroke, finishing in 2 minutes and 5.16 seconds. Smith had previously set a world record in the 100m backstroke earlier in the week. Phoebe Bacon secured second place in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:06.27, overtaking reigning world champion Claire Curzan in the final meters to earn her spot in Paris.

Smith, who had set world records in the 100m and 200m backstroke as a 17-year-old in 2019, expressed pride in her recent performances. She acknowledged the progress she has made since 2021 and looked forward to competing in Paris in multiple events, including both backstrokes and the 200m butterfly, which she won on Thursday. "I'm incredibly proud of this performance," Smith said. "I think it's a night and day difference versus 2021 to now. I ran out of gas at the end of that last race, but it's been a great week for me."