Caeleb Dressel wins gold medal in 50-meter freestyle at Olympics, his third individual gold in Tokyo

TOKYO — American Caeleb Dressel made it 3 for 3 Sunday morning on the final day of the Olympic swimming competition, winning the men’s 50-meter freestyle for his third individual gold medal of these Games.

Dressel won in 21.07 seconds, setting an Olympic record, followed by Florent Manaudou of France in 21.55. Brazil's Bruno Fratus won bronze in 21.57.

American Michael Andrew was fourth, just .03 of a second off the podium.

The previous Olympic record was 21.30, set by Cesar Cielo of Brazil in 2008. He also holds the world record of 20.91.

Dressel, who won the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly earlier in the week, also won a gold in the men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay. He had one more event remaining, the men’s 4x100 medley relay, which the United States won after Dressel pulled ahead of Great Britain in his butterfly leg.

He leaves Tokyo with five Olympic gold medals.

Dressel, 24, the male swimming star of the Olympics for the United States, has talked several times about appreciating every moment of his Olympic experience.

“I just tried to enjoy the moment,” he said after winning the 100 freestyle. “I don’t want to surpass any moment because I’m used to it. I don’t want to get immune to the feeling that racing offers me so I just wanted to really take hold of that moment and enjoy it. There’s people who would kill to be in the situation I’m in, lane 5 of the Olympic final. I don’t want to take that for granted.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Caeleb Dressel wins gold in 50 free, his 3rd individual gold in Tokyo