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Published: February 23, 2016
Introduction
This past weekend at the 2016 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships, Caeleb Dressel broke the American record in the 50 SCY Freestyle (18.23), 100 SCY Freestyle (41.07), and the SEC record in the 100 SCY Butterfly (44.80). Oh, and he won all three events too. He was also on four winning relays.
Said differently, he went undefeated. He won every race the moment he dove off the blocks, and like many of the other greats he made it look easy.
Now the fact that he went undefeated and broke American Records as a Sophomore are extraordinary accomplishments regardless, but what really caught my eye was how dominating he was in his performances.
Appreciating that the definition of dominance is often vague in regards to athletics, for this publication I am using the definition of how much a winner won on a relative basis. Said differently, how far before the closest competitor did the winner finish.
Let us take a look at the 1st and 2nd place finishes for each of the 13 individual male events contested at the 2016 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships.
This list is sorted in descending order of relative margin of victory - the bold events, which also happen to be the top three, belong to Dressel
Exhibit 1
2016 Male SEC Championship 1st Place Finishes
Event: 1st Place Time / 2nd Place Time / 1st > 2nd
(Dressel) 50 Freestyle: 18.23 / 19.17 / 5.2%
(Dressel) 100 Freestyle: 41.07 / 41.96 / 2.2%
(Dressel) 100 Butterfly: 44.80 / 45.59 / 1.8%
1650 Freestyle: 14:35.49 / 14:49.22 / 1.6%
100 Backstroke: 45.25 / 45.58 / 0.7%
400 IM: 3:40.33 / 3:41.88 / 0.7%
100 Breaststroke: 51.94 / 52.13 / 0.4%
200 Backstroke: 1:40.14 / 1:40.42 / 0.3%
200 Breaststroke: 1:53.50 / 1:53.87 / 0.3%
200 IM: 1:42.21 / 1:42.55 / 0.3%
200 Buttefly: 1:40.59 / 1:40.80 / 0.2%
200 Freestyle: 1:33.43 / 1:33.65 / 0.2%
500 Freestyle: 4:13.31 / 4:13.48 / 0.1%
And remember, this is on a relative basis. On an absolute basis, Dressel’s margin of victory in the 50 Free (0.94 seconds) ranks third on the list, behind only the 1650 free and the 400 IM!
Conclusion
To have the single largest margin of victory is impressive. To have it in three events is outstanding. But to do it in a sprint trio as a teenager in college is, quite frankly, dominating.
Footnotes
Author: Elliot Meena
Published: February 23, 2016
Sources: SEC Sports
Notes:
SCY: Short-Course-Yards (i.e., a 25-yard pool)
50 SCY Freestyle: https://youtu.be/NFlF8wRAKaM
100 SCY Freestyle: https://youtu.be/LB78qDZ8AMQ
100 SCY Butterfly: https://youtu.be/_Y4I0QdCq-8
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