In an Olympics where many of the favorites have faltered, Caeleb Dressel lived up to the hype.
Dressel claimed the first individual Olympic gold medal of his career with two furious laps of the pool Thursday morning, winning the 100-meter freestyle over defending champion Kyle Chalmers.
As is his style, Dressel dove into the pool and came up with the lead. He was still ahead at the lone flip and turned away the Aussie's bid for a second straight gold.
Dressel's winning time was an Olympic record of 47.02 seconds - a mere six-hundredths of a second ahead of Chalmers, who had to settle for a silver this time.
"I wasn't worried about anything," Dressel said. "During the race there's only so much you can do. Whatever's going to happen is going to happen. I stuck to my race plan so if it got me first, OK, if it got me second, OK."
The news has left people from across the globe in awe of the athlete. Social media is abuzz with praises and cheers for Dressel today.
Here's what people are saying. Have a look.
With inputs from PTI.
