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Swimmers like Michael Phelps and Caeleb Dressel, who are considered among the best, rely on a lot of factors to do well in the pool. Lung capacity, strength, endurance, and a lot of other things have to be trained to do well. However, there are some genetic factors at play, too.
Long legs help propel swimmers through the water. Being tall also helps, because it means they can reach further since their bodies are longer. Wingspan might be the most important of the genetic factors because it allows people to either make up for a height difference or increase it.
Both Phelps and Dressel have really long wingspans. Dressel's 76 inch wingspan puts him roughly seven inches below the swimmer with the longest wingspan ever.
Michael Gross, aptly nicknamed 'The Albatross', had a wingspan of just over 83 inches. Phelps is a little closer than Dressel, with a wingspan of 80 inches.
The retired swimmer stands at 6'4'', which means his wingspan is nearly four inches longer than his height. Dressel, on the other hand, is 6'3, so his wingspan extends an inch further than his height.
Both these swimmers have excellent skills and have worked incredibly hard to be where they are or were, as in the 23-time Olympic gold medalist's case.
Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer of all time and Dressel is one of today's best and brightest for a lot of reasons, but their wingspans certainly help.
Comparing Michael Phelps' and Caeleb Dressel's careers
It's tough to compare someone to a swimmer who is the most decorated Olympian of all time. However, Dressel gets compared to the 28-time Olympic medalist quite often.
The younger American shut down the comparisons last year. Speaking to NBC's TODAY, he said that there was no question about who was better.
While it does seem unfair to compare the two, the comparison is not without merit.
Dressel has only competed in two Olympics thus far. He tried to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London, but missed the mark. When he did debut in 2016, he took the opportunity and ran with it.
Dressel took home two gold medals in the 4x100m freestyle and the 4x100m medley. In that same Olympics, which would be the swimmer's last, Phelps took gold in the following:
- 4x100m medley (same team as Dressel)
- 4x100m freestyle (same team as Dressel)
- 200m butterfly
- 200m medley
- 4x200m freestyle
He also got a silver medal in the 100m butterfly.
Phelps did not compete in 2020, but Dressel did. That was when he really burst onto the scene and received comparisons to the greatest swimmer of all time.
He earned five gold medals:
- 4x100m medley
- 4x100m freestyle
- 100m freestyle
- 100m butterfly
- 50m freestyle
He also set two world and two Olympic records in the process.
It was an impressive run, but it pales in comparison to Phelps' performances in 2008 at the Beijing Games. Eight gold medals in one Olympics is a record that still stands and will likely not be broken any time soon.
Dressel is an excellent swimmer, but the comparisons don't do him justice because his compatriot is one of the best athletes of all time.
