Tokyo 2020 - 'He's at his fastest when he's not breathing' - Keri-Anne Payne on champion Caeleb Dressel

ByCarrie Dunn

Updated 29/07/2021 at 17:25 GMT

Caeleb Dressel added 100m freestyle gold to his relay gold - and there could be more to come. Former Olympic silver medallist Keri-Anne Payne noticed something very interesting about his technique in the pool on his way to victory in the freestyle, and she thinks it could stand him in good stead with two more events to come. You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+.

New Olympic 100m freestyle champion and record-holder Caeleb Dressel has a unique technique in the final throes of a race - and it pays off.

Former Olympic open water silver medallist Keri-Anne Payne highlighted it on Tokyo Today as she spoke to presenter Reshmin Chowdhury, saying: "What an athlete he is. He's got four Olympic medals, all of them gold...

"He's got some really powerful butterfly kicks, really making the most of that turn, and then coming down into this last 50 metres, it is all you have left down this last little bit.

Tokyo 2020

Marathon Swimming - Men's 10km - Tokyo 2020 - Olympic Highlights

00:01:37

|

05/08/2021 at 04:19

• USA's Dressel wins first individual Olympic gold in 100m freestyle

Now, all the athletes are breathing really pretty much every two [strokes] and that's an interesting thing because they are working so hard they need the oxygen...16 metres to go until the finish, that is the last time that Caeleb takes a breath.

"Now, that is not an easy thing to do, but he knows that he's at his fastest when he is not breathing, and all the other swimmers you can see breathing a little bit into that last bit but it absolutely pays off for Caeleb in this instance, in the sense that not only is the Olympic champion he's also the Olympic record holder as well."

‘The eagle has landed!’ – Caeleb Dressel breaks Olympic record to win 100m freestyle

And Payne says Dressel might add more medals to his haul in the next few days, with the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly yet to come

"I know he's got a really big meet to go and it can be really interesting to see how many more he can add to his tally."

- -

Watch every unmissable moment live from Tokyo 2020 across Eurosport, the Eurosport app and discovery+. Download the Eurosport app for iOS and Android now.

Tokyo 2020

Peaty on mental health break – ‘People who aren't athletes don’t really understand’

03/08/2021 at 02:24