Caeleb Dressel in 50 free swimming final

Caeleb Dressel finished outside the medals with a sixth place in Friday’s men’s 50-meter freestyle final for Olympic swimming inside Paris La Defense Arena, then suffered a surprise elimination from the semifinal stage of the 100 butterfly in a painful afternoon for the Northeast Florida swimming champion.

Swimming from Lane 2 in the single-length sprint, the Green Cove Springs native started near the front of the race but finished in 21.61, only five hundredths of a second from a medal.

Winning gold was Cameron McEvoy of Australia in 21.25. Ben Proud of Great Britain received the silver medal in 21.30, and Florent Manaudou of France got the bronze. Just 0.08 seconds separated third-place Manaudou from eighth-place Jordan Crooks of the Cayman Islands.

This was Dressel’s first time outside the medals at the Olympics since the United States placed fifth in the men’s medley relay in Tokyo three years ago, and his first time off the podium in an individual Olympic swim since he came in sixth in the 100 free in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

At the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, Dressel earned one of his five gold medals in the 50 free, winning on that occasion in an Olympic-record 21.07. He also won the 100 free, 100 butterfly and two relays in Tokyo.

CAELEB DRESSEL: EMOTIONAL EXIT IN BUTTERFLY

The 50 free final formed one part of a hectic and ultimately frustrating day for the former Clay High School star, who also went out of the 100 fly in an unexpected and emotional exit.

Only 35 minutes after he raced the 50 free, Dressel also missed out on the chance to defend his butterfly title from Tokyo. Slower than usual out of the blocks while competing in his fourth race of the day, he placed only fifth in his semifinal in 51.57. He finished with the 13th-fastest time overall, half a second behind the 51.08 needed to qualify for the final eight.

The wait for gold medal number nine goes on for Dressel, whose eight golds are tied for sixth in Summer Olympic history. He is already firmly established among the most successful athletes in Olympic history. The only Olympians to earn more gold medals are Michael Phelps, Larisa Latynina, Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi and Mark Spitz, although Katie Ledecky could earn her ninth gold as early as Saturday in the women’s 800 free final.

CAELEB DRESSEL: RELAYS STILL TO COME

For Dressel, it was a painful end to a Friday that had started with promise. After qualifying comfortably from the 100 fly first leg, he helped the United States place first in preliminaries by swimming the butterfly leg of the 4×100 mixed medley relay, which includes two men and two women. He joined Regan Smith (backstroke), Charlie Swanson (breaststroke) and Abbey Weitzeil (freestyle) to complete the relay in 3:40.98.

Whether or not Dressel swims Saturday’s mixed medley relay final, he would receive a medal for that event if the American team finishes on the podium.

Dressel is also expected to swim a butterfly leg on the U.S. team for the men’s 4×100 medley relay, the final men’s race in the pool at these Olympics. That race, which could also include former Bolles School backstroker Ryan Murphy, holds its first round around 6:40 a.m. Saturday and its final shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday.

Dressel, who has already won a relay medal in Paris in the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay, has been bidding to return to the top of world swimming after taking a year-long break that began with his withdrawal midway through the 2022 World Championships in Hungary.