Dressel, Ledecky lead U.S. Olympic swim team

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Resurgent stars Caeleb Dressel and Regan Smith, a stream of speedy newcomers and the ever-impressive Katie Ledecky will aim to maintain United States’ supremacy in the Olympic pool in Paris, where a formidable Australian team awaits.

The intense nine days of the US trials — where crowds topping 20,000 turned out at Lucas Oil Stadium that concluded Sunday and produced a team of 46 swimmers aching to reassert America’s pool dominance after Australia topped the medals table at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

“You know, last year is last year, and this is a new season,” said Anthony Nesty, the 1988 100-meter butterfly gold medallist for Suriname who will serve as head coach of the US men’s team in Paris.

“We are pretty confident.”

Nesty has shepherded the comeback of sprint star Dressel, who won five gold medals at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games but stepped away from the sport in 2022 to tend to his mental health.

Dressel, 27, didn’t qualify to defend his 100m freestyle gold, but he won the 50m free and 100m butterfly and if he’s not the dominant figure of 2021 he remains a significant contender in both events.

Smith, who broke the 100m and 200m backstroke world records as a teenager back in 2019 but settled for silver and bronze in Tokyo cemented her return to peak form more emphatically, clocking a world record 57.13 seconds in the 100m backstroke, then adding the 200m back and 200m fly to her Paris program.

Smith sliced two-tenths of a second off the 100m back world mark set by Kaylee McKeown last year, setting up a tantalizing clash with the Aussie in Paris.

Gretchen Walsh signaled her arrival as a long-course contender, shattering the 100m butterfly world record on the way to booking her first Olympic trip and locking up a spot in the 50m free with a runner-up finish behind another veteran on the comeback trail — Simone Manuel.