Caeleb Dressel Unpacks His Journey Back to Swimming Since 2022 World Champs

7-time Olympic gold medalist and Team Speedo athlete Caeleb Dressel talked with SwimSwam for nearly an hour, detailing his journey back to the sport since his abrupt departure from the 2022 World Championships in Budapest. Caeleb's plain-spoken, funny, and he does channel vulnerability as strength in this interview. Coming off a big Speedo international photo shoot with all of his Team Speedo peers from all over the world, Caeleb was in good spirits and ready to talk on this topic.

0:00 Caeleb Dressel Introduction
2:40 Mental Break
7:31 Managing Expectations
14:00 Getting Sick After Big Meets
18:25 Leaving 2022 World Champs
23:20 2023 World Trials
28:20 Dressel as a Coach
31:00 Putting in the Work
35:40 2023 World Champs
40:35 LA 2028 Olympics
43:43 Speedo Photo Shoot
45:00 Baby Dressel

I don't want to speak for him, so I'll strive to be brief outlining what he shared.

During and immediately after 2022 World Champs there was not a public statement from Caeleb because he didn't fully know what was happening to him, but it was clearly a mental health event. In his words -- I went numb. Back home he immediately starting seeing a therapist, a therapist who he continues to see. Moreover, in the immediate aftermath and for months, Caeleb was unsure if he could continue as an athlete. Taking care of his mental health was the only priority.

For those who are in therapy or have experience with therapy, Dressel did a very deep dive. For some further insight, two books he read that were meaningful for him in his recovery process are:

The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel A. van der Kolk

The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

Swim fans may remember Caeleb's high school years and a period of time he took away from competition. That wasn't talked about much at that time, but in this interview Caeleb confirms and explains what happened at the 2022 World Champs was similar to what he experienced in high school.

Coach Anthony Nesty, mindful of what Caeleb's been working through, held Caeleb back in training. The process of reentering training has been very slow. Caeleb adds a lot of context on the topic.

U.S. World Trials was an unknown for Caeleb, but after so much time away pool he wanted to race and be back among his peers. It was fun to race, but tough not being in the center lanes. Caeleb confirms, yes, his fly was better than his free in his opinion, but with so little training U.S. World Trials was just a check on where's he at in the process.

There's a lot more in this interview. We hope you appreciate it.

Many thanks to SwimSwam partner @SpeedoUSA1928

@Speedo

Swimming news courtesy of SwimSwam.com (swimswam.com)

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