Caeleb Dressel won the men's 100m freestyle final by swimming the fastest time in Olympic history. To achieve it, he had push himself without breathing in the last 15 meters to take the gold. He took 47.02 seconds to achieve the fastest mark in the history of the100m freestyle at the Olympic Games.

He was the first to jump into the pool. With that jump, he was also the one who reached the furthest and the first to touch the 50-meter wall. But with a few meters to go, Russian Kliment Kolesnikov was catching up with him on his right. He was also threatened by the Australian Kyle Chalmers, champion at Rio 2016. For a few thousandths of a second, no one knew who would take the victory.

But in those last 15 meters after the red line, Dressel accelerated, stopped poking his head out to breathe and launched 14 strokes at full power towards the goal. He didn't make a single mistake in his fully-exerted state. When he reached the wall, he went out looking for the oxygen that he gave up in the last few seconds.

Although the swimmer did not break any world records or even match his best mark, he did achieve the fastest race in Olympic history. Of the eight finalists, six fell below 48 seconds and the three who made the podium fell below 47.50. The bronze medal time in Tokyo 2020 would have been the gold in Rio 2016.

It was the first time that Dressel has won gold in an individual event at the Olympics. The moment he knew he won, his face was a mixture of relief and fear. After a great period of uncertainty, the swimmer carried the responsibility of representing Team USA.

At 24, he knew that these were his Games to show off. The Russian Kolesnikov, who is still 21 years old, can aspire to win at the next Olympic event in Paris, in just three years. In turn, the Australian Chalmers, who is 23 years old, has already won in 2016 and has less pressure.