November 21, 2020
(Reuters) – American Caeleb Dressel set short course world records in the men’s 100 metres butterfly and 50 metres freestyle events at the International Swimming League (ISL) finals in Budapest on Saturday.
Dressel, 24, clocked 47.78 seconds in the 100m butterfly, breaking South African Chad le Clos’ previous record of 48.08 seconds.
Dressel later lowered his own record in the 50m freestyle by 0.08 seconds, setting a time of 20.16 seconds in the Hungarian capital.
“It was a really exciting day and I’m so pleased with the times,” Dressel, who broke Michael Phelps’s 100m butterfly world record at the 2019 World Championships, told the BBC.
“It’s like an amusement park for swimmers and I’m loving it at the ISL this season, but we want to win this as a team – that’s the end goal.”
Teams have been racing behind closed doors in Budapest since Oct. 16 and the final four are Energy Standard, Cali Condors, LA Current and London Roar — two from the United States and two from Europe.
World records from Dressel and their women’s 4x100m individual medley relay team helped Cali Condors lead the standings with 267 points on the first day of the ISL finals.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
