Caeleb Dressel won the men’s 100m freestyle final at the world championships on Thursday to bag his third title in Budapest and give the United States the gold and silver.
Dressel touched the wall first at 47.17 seconds with compatriot Nathan Adrian, the 2012 Olympic champion, second at 0.70 back as France’s Mehdy Metella earned bronze at 0.72.
“Right now, it’s all smiles,” said Dressel. “I’ll let it sink in a bit, it’s my first and last event tonight, so I’m excited.
“Man it’s nice to go one-two with Nathan, there’s nothing like that Americans on top.
“I just want to do my best each time with I go into the water with the flag on my cap.”
The 20-year-old completed his hat-trick of world golds by powering home over the final 50 metres in a commanding display having already been part of the victorious 4x100m freestyle and mixed 4x100m medley relay squads.
Dressel also broke a world record in Budapest by swimming the third leg of the mixed medley relay on Wednesday which lowered the previous mark both in the morning’s heats and final.
“I’m on top of the world right now,” said Dressel.
“If you had told me this would be my first world title, I would definitely have laughed at you four months ago – I was over three seconds slower,” he added.