INDIANAPOLIS – Like father, like son.
Carmel’s Aaron Shackell, 19, became the first swimmer to make the U.S. team for Paris, winning the 400-meter freestyle Saturday in 3:45.46 on night 1 of the Olympic Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Announced attendance was 20,689. That is the largest ever for an indoor swimming competition, according to USA Swimming.
Shackell’s father, Nick, made the British team for two Olympics, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. His sister, Alex, who could join Aaron on the Olympic team, hugged him after he walked down the steps of the pool deck.
More: Olympic medal eluded father, but Carmel swimming siblings can get on Paris podium
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Top two make the team, plus six in the 100- and 200-meter freestyles.
Kieran Smith, a 2021 Olympic medalist, finished second in 3:45.76. Luke Whitlock, a Noblesville 18-year-old representing Fishers Area Swimming Tigers, was fifth in 3:46.55. Whitlock had the fastest time of prelims, 3:46.42, or faster than Michael Phelps swam at age 18.
“I have to say since kindergarten, ever since finding out my dad was an Olympian, I wanted to be an Olympian myself… It’s unbelievable,” Aaron Shackell told NBC after clinching his spot in Paris.
Shackell said he didn’t think he was going to be any good at swimming initially. He swam but liked football, basketball and tennis better. He could have left the pool altogether.
“If I quit swimming, I’m just going to play video games,” he said. “There’s nothing else I’m going to be doing. My grades aren’t amazing.
“For a little bit, it was a way to get to college and go to a school I want to go to. Then I moved past that.”
He started at Cal last fall but left school to resume training here. Never should have left Carmel before the Olympics, he said. He knew what worked, and that was the program here.
Carmel’s Jake Mitchell, who made the 2021 team and finished eighth at the Tokyo Olympics, was eighth in 3:50.76.
Earlier, University of Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh set the first world record of these trials, swimming the 100 butterfly in 55.18. The record of 55.48 had been held by Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom since 2016.
Alex Shackell and Kelly Pash, both of Carmel, qualified for the final by finishing fourth (56.78) and eighth (57.97), respectively.
IndyStar will have much more on Shackell’s big night.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Swim Trials: Aaron Shackell wins 400 freestyle, spot at Paris Olympics
