Four years ago, Caeleb Dressel started his quest to individual glory on the international stage: at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest the American sprinter completed an amazing sprinting quadruple, won the 50-100m free and the 50m-100m fly. He repeated that feat in Gwangju 2019 and especially in the fly events no one could really put up a fight to catch him. In Budapest, Kristof Milak, as a slim 17-year-old prodigy, stunned many to touch in second with 50.62, 0.74sec behind Dressel who became the first man in the textile era who could break the 50sec barrier by clocking 49.86.

Two years later he managed to beat Michael Phelps’ shiny WR (49.82) from Rome 2009, and he did that twice at the Worlds in Gwangju, in the semis (49.66), then in the final (49.50). No one could really match that speed, his winning margin was an amazing 1.17sec, Milak, still overwhelmed from his 1:50.73 blast in the 200m, was a distant fourth.

Admittedly, the extra year worked in Milak’s favour, he said he had gained enough strength and weight to have the speed for the 100m (and not to be derailed by Dressel’s waves what had had an impact on his swim four years ago). That set up a fantastic final – or rather a showdown between these two giants.

Dressel’s powerful starting dive and underwater kicks earned him almost a body-length advantage in the first 50m and that was mirrored at the turn where he led by 0.65sec ahead of Milak and 2019 runner-up Andrei Minakov (ROC). What was new, how Milak geared up for the second leg and got closer and closer to the American. In the first 50m it was 23.00 v 23.65, in the homecoming it was 26.45 v 26.03 (Milak's one was the fastest second 50m ever) – but Dressel’s speed was still fantastic, he kept 0.24sec from his advantage at the wall where he stopped the clock at 49.45 to beat his old WR by 0.05sec. Next was Milak, on 49.68, a new European record, shaving off almost half second from his PB as well as becoming the second man after Dressel to go under 50sec in the textile era. Check the swimming records here and full results of the Men 100M Butterfly event here 

Add that even in shiny suits Michael Phelps and Milorad Cavic (SRB) could dip under 50sec only once, in the final at the 2009 Worlds in Rome (49.82 v 49.96), never before and not again. Dressel could follow them to the ‘50-underworld’ in 2017 and added more since, routinely throwing 49s here in the heats and the semis too. Though only his new WR here and his two WR-beating swims from Gwangju are better than Milak’s blast in this final and that may offer us some breathtaking races in the future. 

These two giants are really redefining butterfly swimming: while Milak is a class apart in the 200m, now he is set to join Dressel to the higher circles in the 100m – where they are swimming in a different world: bronze medallist Noe Ponti (delivering another bronze to Switzerland!) clocked 50.76, coming more than a full second adrift.

Dressel thus added this gold to his 100m free title and soon he was back to book lane 4 in the 50m free final for tomorrow so he can complete his individual treble (though could push the US relay to the podium at the end of the session in the mixed medley). Milak ended his first Olympic quest here with a gold and a silver – we can’t really wait to see them back to the pool for more duels like this.

"It was a super-fun race with Kristof (Milak). None of my races have come easy, I'm not expecting any of them to” Dressel said.

"It was faster than I thought it was going to be, which was great - it's fantastic for the sport. I'm sure it was really fun to watch for everybody, it was certainly fun to take part in. I think it was the fastest 100m fly final ever swum.

"It hurt – it felt much better yesterday – but I had an opportunity and I went for it, it doesn't matter how my body feels, I executed it well and got the job done. It was going to take a world record to win that event or close to it. I'm not running away with any events here, there is always somebody (near)."

As for his demanding schedule – 100m fly, 50m free semis, mixed medley in an hour so – Dressel said: “It was a lot of ups and downs today. No race is ever the same. I knew today was going to be busy. My body held together a little better than I thought. Mentally it got a little easier as each race went on, I kind of got in my groove. I’m most comfortable in the pool swimming so it’s kind of nice to have a lot of swims back to back to back. I wouldn’t want that every day but I can handle it for a day or two. Fly was great, I thought I executed well. The 50m free is a fast final. I wasn’t going to overlook anything, I knew I had to swim fast. I set myself well for tomorrow.”

He admitted that it was disappointing to fail to make the podium in the mixed medley relay.

"I think you ask anyone on (team) USA or anyone who is on the relay, of course we’re not happy with how we finished, certainly not. Fifth place is unacceptable for USA swimming and we’re very aware of that. Our standard is gold, that’s what we are always shooting for every race. And we didn’t execute well and that’s OK. We know moving forward we might not have the pieces or the parts right now and that’s fine. Everyone swam as well as we could in that moment. And there were teams better than us. Sometimes that happens. I mean GB, that was insane, world record, they hit every split perfect. We got beat by the better team. It stings but I have to be OK with it because they were the better team today.”

Kristof Milak was delighted to earn silver and he was all smiles after the race, contrary to his frozen face after the 200m fly final. “Sure, I’m smiling as it was a fantastic race, a fantastic swim from both of us. I’m proud that Caeleb needed a world record to win this race and I think we have plenty of duels ahead of us. I know I have to go out faster, need 23.2-3 to have a legitimate chance to catch him up. Though it’s not that easy as you may think: the 200m was in the focus coming here, where I train to go 24.8 for the first 50m, to speed it up properly within two-three days, that requires more practice.”

Milak added that the extra year helped him to achieve this result. “Had we been here a year ago, I’m sure I couldn’t go under 50sec, perhaps not even get a medal here. I had time to gain strength, put up more muscle weight and that was a factor. In the spring many fellow swimmers told me, ‘You could catch him’ but I told them, there was no way. Now I see I have a realistic chance which gave me a huge motivation, even bigger than for the 200m where, as of now, I mostly race against myself.”

Switzerland had a single medal in swimming at the Olympics coming to these Games – now they took two in two days. Noel Ponti hardly found the words to describe his happiness.

"It is really a dream come true, I've never felt this way before. I think I'm dreaming – it's like living a dream. Before this Olympics the goal was to make the semi-final. What can I say? I'm speechless, it's unbelievable."