Caeleb Dressel gets his individual Olympic gold

TOKYO — Caeleb Dressel sprinted to his second of what could be several gold medals at these Olympics, outdueling Russia’s Kliment Koleshnikov and Australia’s Kyle Chalmers to win the 100-meter freestyle.

Dressel led wire to wire, and came home in 47.02, a new Olympic record. He barely out-touched Chalmers (47.08), the reigning gold medalist from Rio, and Koleshnikov (47.44) in a neighboring lane.

"I was just trying to take in the moment," he said.

"It is a lot different," he added about winning his first individual medal. "I guess I thought it would be, I just didn't want to admit it. It is a lot different. It's a lot tougher; you can only rely on yourself. There's no one to bail you out if you have a bad split."

Dressel won his first Tokyo Olympic gold in a relay on Monday. His first individual final was perhaps his most highly anticipated. He’ll also swim the 50 free and the 100 butterfly here in Tokyo, plus at least two more relays, and could take home more medals than any other member of Team USA.

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