Caeleb Dressel Finally Wins Individual Gold in Tokyo Olympics; Sets Record in 100-Meter Freestyle

(Photo : ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images) Team USA's Caeleb Dressel poses with his gold medal after the finals of the men's 100-m freestyle swimming event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on July 29, 2021.

Caeleb Dressel has finally done it! The 24-year-old American finally captured an individual gold medal in swimming for Team USA, winning the men's 100-m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.

Dressel did it in style, finishing the marquee race with an Olympic record time of 47.02 seconds. He has now won two gold medals in this year's Summer Games. He earned the first one days earlier in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay final, with Dressel racing the opening leg for Team USA in that event.

Dressel outlasts Chalmers in thrilling finish

Dressel is no doubt an excellent swimmer, but one of the major complaints about him was that he couldn't find success in the pool by himself. Before Thursday's race, all three of Dressel's Olympic gold medals came from the relay events. Apart from winning the relay gold here in Tokyo, Dressel also won two gold medals in group events in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Dressel entered Thursday's final as the prohibitive favorite given that he is the reigning world champion in this event. He got off to a great start and took the lead at the turn. Dressel looked to be running out of steam but managed to hold off a furious charge by Australia's Kyle Chalmers, defeating the Rio 2016 winner by just .06 of a second in a thrilling finish.

The men's 100-m freestyle event has long been the domain of the United States in the Olympics, and Dressel now can proudly say that he is a member of this exclusive group of American swimming champions.

He joins Olympic gold medalists Nathan Adrian, Matt Biondi, Rowdy Gaines, Jim Montgomery, Mark Spitz, Don Schollander, Clarke Scholes, Wally Ris, Johnny Weissmuller, Duke Kahanamoku, and Charlie Daniels in the list of winners for Team USA in this event.

Dressel fought back tears in an interview with NBC after the race, saying, "It's a really tough year, it's really hard. So, to have the results show up, I mean, it really came together, so I'm happy." The tears started flowing, though, when Dressel spoke to his wife Meghan and his parents, who were on the other end of the video call with the Olympic champion, only saying, "Love you guys, thank you."

Finke wins gold for Team USA in 800-m freestyle

Dressel wasn't the only American to win swimming gold on Thursday. First-time Olympian Bobby Finke came from behind to capture the gold medal in the men's 800-meter freestyle.

Finke looked out of it, heading into the final 50 meters as he made the turn in fifth place. Finke came roaring back, though, finishing in first place with a time of 7:41.87, which is a new American record.

He stunned Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri, who led for the majority of the race. Paltrinieri settled for the silver medal while Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk took home the bronze.