INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caeleb Dressel finished 29th in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. nationals on Tuesday, falling far short of qualifying for the world championships in an event he won at the Tokyo Olympics.

Dressel fell farther and farther behind in the last of eight preliminary heats, touching the wall behind everyone else.

His time of 49.42 seconds was a whopping 1.79 behind top qualifier Ryan Held, who swam one heat earlier, and a sobering reminder of how far Dressel has to go after walking away from swimming last summer during the world championships in Budapest, Hungary.

He didn't come close to making the U.S. team in the 100 free for next month's worlds in Fukuoka, Japan. Dressel's time at the IUPUI Natatorium was nearly 2.5 seconds off his gold medal-winning performance (47.02) at the Tokyo Games two summers ago.

Dressel was one of the biggest stars at those Olympics, winning five gold medals.

But the 26-year-old Floridian mysteriously left the sport for an extended break and returned to competition only last month at a minor meet in Atlanta.

Clearly, Dressel has a long road to recapture the form that made him the successor to Michael Phelps as the world's most dominant male swimmer.

Dressel still has three more chances to qualify for the world championships, having also entered the 50 free as well as the 50 and 100 butterfly. But, based on his first swim of the meet, it clearly will be an uphill climb to claim a spot on the powerful U.S. team.

Then again, Dressel is surely more focused on getting back to top form in time for next summer's Paris Olympics, though he hasn't publicly revealed his plans or goals.

In keeping with his reluctance to speak with the media, he declined interview requests after his dismal showing in Indianapolis.

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Paul Newberry is a national sports writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry@ap.org

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