PARIS, France — Caeleb Dressel picked up his ninth career gold medal in Paris, but it came in a way he probably didn't expect going into the Summer Games.
While Dressel won his eighth career gold in a relay on Day 1 of the swimming slate, he missed chances to defend two of his Olympic titles from three years ago in Tokyo in the 50-meter freestyle and 100 butterfly.
On Friday night, he placed sixth in the 50-meter freestyle and then failed to even reach the final in the 100 butterfly. Afterward, he cried for several minutes as his individual events in the pool at the 2024 Olympics had ended.
Just one day later, Dressel earned his ninth career gold medal, but was on the sidelines when it happened.
That's because Dressel swam Friday on the U.S. team during the prelims for the mixed 4x100m medley relay. While he wasn't part of the team who swam in the final and set a new world record, Dressel still gets a gold medal because of his efforts to secure the spot in the final. Regan Smith, Charlie Swanson and Abbey Weitzeil also swam in the prelims.
Dressel is now in a four-way tie for having the second-most gold medals of any U.S. Olympian, behind only Michael Phelps. The world's most decorated Olympian, Phelps dominated the swimming world until his retirement in 2016 and has won 23 gold medals.
Dressel holds the runner-up slot with Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis and Katie Ledecky — who picked up her ninth medal also on Saturday.