OMAHA, Neb. — Three swimmers from Indiana will be representing the U.S. at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Lilly King, a swimmer at IU from Evansville, won the final of the women’s 100-breaststroke at the Olympic Trials in Omaha and is heading back to the Olympics — as she tries to defend her gold medal from Rio. She holds the world record in that event.
Meanwhile, two swimmers from Carmel qualified for the Games as well.
Jake Mitchell qualified for the 400-freestyle. The unique thing about Mitchell’s race at the Trials is that he was the only one in it. He swam alone in a FINA-approved individual time trial and beat the Olympic qualifying standard of 3:46.78 by swimming turning a time of 3:45.86.
“Obviously it’s insane,” he told SwimSwam. “Definitely when I hit the wall I heard people cheering so I knew I got it but I honestly didn’t expect to see :45. It’s totally surreal!”
Mitchell got the time trial after only one U.S swimmer, Kieran Smith, met the Olympic qualifying standard for the 400 freestyle at the Trials. Each swimmer looking to make a run at the Olympics on time has until June 27th to turn in a qualifying run. Mitchell was the first to take a whack at it Tuesday evening and he succeeded.
Drew Kibler, also of Carmel, will be a part of the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay in Tokyo. He failed to qualify as an individual for the 200 freestyle, but his third-place finish in the event was enough to secure his spot on the relay.
“Honestly, at this point, I’m just thankful to have made the team,” Kibler said. “Of course, I would love to represent the U.S internationally as an individual.”
Kibler has one last shot to qualify as an individual in the men’s 100 freestyle.
