Budapest 2024: Jordan Crooks, Noè Ponti Find Special Meaning in Breaking Caeleb Dressel’s World Records
When the sun rose Saturday morning in Budapest, Caeleb Dressel held more world records in swimming than any other man when combining his achievements in long course and short course. He has held the long course mark in the 100 butterfly since 2019, breaking it at the World Championships in Gwangju and then lowering it on his way to Olympic gold two years later, and Dressel also set world records in three short course events: 100 IM, 100 fly and 50 freestyle.
Now, Dressel’s record total has been halved thanks to efforts by Jordan Crooks and Noè Ponti at the Short Course World Championships. Crooks, who scared the world record in the 100 free earlier in the week, knocked eight hundredths off Dressel’s 50 free record in Saturday’s prelims, clocking 20.08. That evening, as Ponti won his third individual gold of the week, he snuck eight hundredths under Dressel’s 100 fly time with a 47.71 clocking. Less than an hour later, Crooks roared through his 50 free semifinal and hit the wall in 19.90, becoming the first man to ever eclipse 20 seconds.
More than 20 world records have fallen over the first five days of the meet, but some were old records that had survived primarily because the world’s best long course swimmers rarely or never competed in the 25-meter course. These were ripe for demolition. Not the case with the Dressel sprint records; his power off starts and turns was superior to any other swimmer in history, making him even more successful in short course than the long course format in which he has won nine Olympic gold medals (a six-way tie for second all-time).
It would take special swimmers recording special performances to beat those times, and in the aftermath of their swims, both Crooks and Ponti recognized the significance of their achievements as they lauded Dressel’s all-time great credentials.
Crooks called Dressel “the one that made swimming cool for me when I was younger.” This is not the first time Crooks has joined Dressel in exclusive sprinting company. In 2023, Crooks became only the second man ever to break 18 seconds in the 50-yard free after Dressel had stood alone in that territory for five years.
“The way he swam, the way he went about competing, I always found that quite fascinating, Crooks said. “Just to be mentioned in the same sentence as him was amazing when I was a freshman and I took down his freshman record. It means even more that he was the one to break the record first. Really humble guy, really nice guy.”
Noe Ponti — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Ponti, who had already broken world records in the 50 fly during this fall’s World Cup circuit and again on his way to a world title this week, noted further significance in breaking the four-lap record, calling the 100 fly his favorite event. It’s the event in which he became an Olympic medalist three years ago when, as a little-known 20-year-old, he shared the podium with the dynamic duo of Dressel and Kristof Milak.
“It’s amazing,” Ponti said. “Caeleb, he’s a legend of our sport. He’s one of the best to do it ever. I was looking up to him before I got to race with him, but even when I was racing with him, I was always looking up to him. It’s simply special, special to know that I’m as fast as he was, as he is.”
The Duna Arena, site of this year’s Short Course World Championships, has been a venue home to many of Dressel’s signature moments in the pool. Its inaugural major event, the 2017 World Championships, was Dressel’s international breakout meet as he captured seven gold medals, tying the all-time record for the event held by Michael Phelps, and all three of his short course world records were set during the 2020 ISL Final in the same venue.
Years later, the swimmers inspired by those legendary swims during Dressel’s peak are achieving similar meaningful results in the same water.
