New Delhi, July 30 -- "I haven't seen a '1' next to my name in a long time. It feels good."

The number beside that 1 was 47.70 seconds, his winning time in the men's 100-meter freestyle final at the 2026 Toyota U.S. National Championships on Tuesday in Irvine, California. Earlier in the morning, he had gone 47.98 in the prelims to seed fourth. Together, those times are the fastest he has swum the event since the 2024 Paris Olympics, arriving in the same 24-hour window.

Two years ago, Dressel arrived in Paris as the defending 100-meter freestyle Olympic champion from Tokyo, where he had set the event's world record of 46.91. Paris brought China's Pan Zhanle a new record at 46.40 and a new chapter in the history of sprint freestyle. Dress...