Ledecky, Dressel lead strong U.S. roster for Worlds this summer

The squad for USA Swimming is now set after a record-setting meet over the weekend in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Caeleb Dressel and Katie Ledecky highlight a 41-member U.S. team that will compete at this summer’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Ledecky dominated in four different freestyle events, ranging from the 200 to the 1500 meter races. She will look to add to her 15 gold medals accrued from her four previous World Championships.

On the men’s side, following up on his five medal performance at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Dressel focused on his sprint events in winning the 50 and 100 meter freestyle.

Three years ago, in Gwangju, South Korea, Dressel became the first athlete to win eight medals, including six golds, at a single World Championship.

Michael Phelps is the only other individual to accomplish a similar feat, winning eight golds at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Dressel’s dominance at World Championships has been seen before, when he took home seven gold medals in 2017 at Duna Arena in Budapest - the same site for this summer’s event from June 18-25.

Joining Ledecky on the U.S. team are several other Olympic medalists. Claire Curzan, who won silver in the 4x100m medley in Tokyo and Torri Huske, also on the same medley team.

Rounding out a strong American side is new world record holder in the 50m backstroke Hunter Armstrong.

It was the first men’s world record broken at a U.S. trials meet since the super-suit era in 2009.

“It’s a complete shock,” said Armstrong, an Ohio State University junior whose personal best before Thursday was 25.45 seconds in the rarely contested event. “It’s something I’ve always wanted. I’m over the moon.”