2017 MEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Florida junior Caeleb Dressel anchored Florida’s 200 medley relay this morning with an unprecedented 17.71, giving him sole ownership of the fastest split ever. Dressel had previously tied Vladimir Morozov with a 17.86 while swimming on Florida’s 200 free relay at last month’s SEC Championships.

While Dressel has been a model of consistency in his flat start times, going 18.23 for the 3rd time last night, today’s split was a whole 0.15 seconds faster than Dressel’s previous best time with a relay start.

Dressel was already the only man to ever split under 18 seconds multiple times, and this is now his fourth effort under that mark. He hit 17.90 anchoring this relay at SECs, then tied Morozov’s 17.86 on the 200 free relay there. Yesterday morning Dressel clocked 17.99 in the prelims of the 200 free relay, before switching to the leadoff leg for finals.

Tonight will give Dressel one more chance to improve his time, as his split this morning helped Florida secure a 4th place finish in prelims and a spot in tonight’s championship final. Dressel will also be competing in the individual 100 fly tonight after winning the 50 free yesterday.