Caleb Dressl (USA), 27, the next "swimming emperor" after Michael Phelps, was reduced to tears as he crashed out of two individual events in one day.

Dressl finished sixth in the men's 50-meter freestyle final in 21.61 seconds at the Paris 2024 Olympic Aquatics Management event at the La Défense swimming pool in Paris, France, on Wednesday (Aug. 3).

He followed that up with a time of 51.57 in the semifinals of the 100-meter butterfly, where he finished 13th out of 16 swimmers and failed to advance to the final.

Dressl was the defending gold medalist in both events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and he was expected to dominate the Games, especially as he was competing for the third time in his career, having led the United States to gold in the 400-meter freestyle relay on Aug. 28.

However, he ended up in tears after a string of disappointments in his favorite events.

According to the U.K.'s Guardian and others, Dressl walked tearfully to the side of the pool after the 100-meter butterfly semifinals, where he hugged a member of Team USA's swim staff and sobbed for a while.

"I wanted to do better today, and I didn't," Dressl told reporters, adding, "It's tough, it's a little bit heartbreaking."

Dressl is considered the heir apparent to Phelps, 파워볼실시간 who has won 28 Olympic medals (23 gold, three silver, two bronze) in his career.

He won two medals at Rio de Janeiro 2016 (400-meter medley relay and 400-meter freestyle relay) and five at Tokyo 2020 (400-meter medley relay, 400-meter freestyle relay, 100-meter freestyle, 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly).

However, Dresl was set to compete at the 2022 World Championships the following year, but withdrew midway through the event due to mental health concerns. She then took about eight months off before returning to the pool in May of last year.

Dressl spoke about the pressure of being labeled Phelps' successor at the U.S. Olympic trials last month. "I get that they're trying to find the next (Phelps)," he said at the time, "but I've said many times that I'm not Phelps."

Meanwhile, in the men's 50m freestyle, where Dressl failed to defend his gold, Cameron McGovern (AUS) won in 21.25 seconds. It was the first gold medal in the event in Australian history.

Benjamin Frood (GBR) was second in 21.30 and Florent Manaudou (FRA) was third in 21.56.