Olympic Swimming 2021: Men's 100M Freestyle Medal Winners, Times and Results

Timothy Rapp @@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IVJuly 29, 2021

AP Photo/Martin Meissner

Caeleb Dressel did it. And he did it in style.

The United States swimmer won the gold medal in the men's 100-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, setting an Olympic record (47.02) in the process. He just edged out the event's gold medalist at the Rio Games in 2016, Australian's Kyle Chalmers (47:08), who took silver.

NBC Sports @NBCSports
CAELEB DRESSEL GETS GOLD! It’s an Olympic record in the men’s 100m freestyle for <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamUSA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TeamUSA</a>! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TokyoOlympics</a> // NBC <a href="https://t.co/wH3VjN3LqC">pic.twitter.com/wH3VjN3LqC</a>

Pat Forde @ByPatForde
Dressel delivers. Phenomenal swim, held off Kyle Chalmers in the final yards by burying his head and finishing. Great turn as well.

Nicole Auerbach @NicoleAuerbach
Caeleb Dressel hung on!!!!! His first individual Olympic gold medal. What a swim.

The Russian Olympic Committee's Kliment Kolesnikov (47.44), one of the favorites heading into the event, earned bronze.

It was Dressel's second gold of the Tokyo Games, as he also stood atop the podium after the United States won the 4x100-meter freestyle relay alongside Blake Pieroni, Bowe Becker and Zach Apple. It was his fourth gold overall, as he won two relay golds at the 2016 Olympics.

He was emotional after Thursday's win.

"I don't know if it's just set in yet. Right now I'm just kinda hurting," he said on the NBC broadcast after the race, between deep breaths. "But it's a really tough year. It's really hard. So to have the results show how—I mean, it really came together, so I'm happy."

#TokyoOlympics @NBCOlympics
The emotions of gold for <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamUSA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TeamUSA</a>'s Caeleb Dressel. He reached the dream. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TokyoOlympics</a> 📺: NBC 💻: <a href="https://t.co/Sdse4JEfNh">https://t.co/Sdse4JEfNh</a> 📱: NBC Sports App <a href="https://t.co/DsFw6LPu1a">pic.twitter.com/DsFw6LPu1a</a>

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CBS Sports @CBSSports
Fresh off a gold medal victory, Caeleb Dressel got to see his loved ones, and the emotions came pouring out. <a href="https://t.co/0un7hde0hw">pic.twitter.com/0un7hde0hw</a>

Kyle Sockwell @kylesockwell
Caeleb Dressel's got us all tearing up right now.

Dressel swam his race, getting off to an incredibly fast start with an 0.60-second reaction time out of the blocks. His race strategy was clear: Catch me if you can.

Chalmers came close but couldn't quite catch the United States' dynamo, who joined impressive company with the win:

Paul Carr @PaulCarr
The legendary list of U.S. men to win Olympic gold in the 100m free: 🇺🇸 Caeleb Dressel 🇺🇸 Nathan Adrian 🇺🇸 Matt Biondi 🇺🇸 Rowdy Gaines 🇺🇸 Jim Montgomery 🇺🇸 Mark Spitz 🇺🇸 Don Schollander 🇺🇸 Clarke Scholes 🇺🇸 Wally Ris 🇺🇸 Johnny Weissmuller 🇺🇸 Duke Kahanamoku 🇺🇸 Charlie Daniels

Dressel has a busy Olympics scheduled, with the 100-meter butterfly, mixed medley relay, 50-meter freestyle and men's medley relay yet to come. But he's already made his mark in Tokyo.

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