Caeleb Dressel well and truly stepped out from Michael Phelps' shadow at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Under enormous expectation to deliver, the Florida man secured five gold medals, and became the first man in modern Olympic history to claim individual victories in the 50m freestyle, the blue-ribaned 100m free, and the 100m butterfly at the same Games. He then helped to deliver the men's 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay titles. That took his Olympic gold medal tally to seven overall, following two relay wins at Rio 2016.

Dressel first proved his ability to deliver multiple golds in one event at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where he swept the board with seven gold medals. Looking utterly dominant, he won the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle, 4x100m medley, 4x100m mixed freestyle and the 4x100m mixed medley. He became the first man ever to get three golds in one night at that meeting.

At the 2019 worlds he was no less impressive, winning six golds in 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 100m 50m butterfly and the 4x100m freestyle. In the 100m butterfly at that meeting, he broke the world record for the 100m butterfly; he also has the 50m freestyle world record. With an extremely strong relay team to help him out, Dressel shows the ability to recover fast between races and go again.