INDIANAPOLIS — World record swim. World record attendance. Hoosier Olympian. Sports icon Katie Ledecky.
Night 1 of the U.S. Olympic Trials had it all.
Carmel swimmer Aaron Shackell became the first to make the U.S. team for Paris, winning the men’s 400-meter freestyle Saturday in 3:45.46.
Announced crowd was 20,689. That is the largest ever for an indoor swimming meet, according to USA Swimming.
Shackell led after each of the eight 50-meter laps, following the instruction of coach Chris Plumb to set the pace. The 19-year-old never wavered, giving Carmel a third Olympian since 2021 after going all previous years with none.
Afterward, Shackell slapped the water with both hands, punched the water again with a hard right, and climbed out of the pool with arms raised in triumph. For good measure, he spiked his goggles on the pool deck.
“I think a lot of people get nervous when they look at 20,000 people and a big stadium, because swimmers maybe aren’t used to,” Shackell said. “But I think, for me, it makes me swim faster.
“For me, I always dreamed of performing in front of a basketball arena or a football stadium, at least as a kid. In swimming, you don’t always have the opportunity to put on a show in front of 20,000 fans. It’s everything to me.”
Shackell set a national high school record in the 200-yard freestyle in February 2023 and enrolled at University of California, which has long had an elite swim program. However, he decided to move back to Carmel to prepare under Plumb for the Olympic Trials.
Shackell has heats and semifinals of the 200-meter freestyle Sunday.
Shackell’s father, Nick, made the British team for two Olympics, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. His mother, Ali, was an All-America swimmer at Auburn, where his parents met. Aaron’s sister, Alex, who could join Aaron on the Olympic team, hugged him after he walked down the steps of the pool deck.
“It’s indescribable, honestly, to see your son make the Olympic team,” Nick Shackell said. “And to do it in the manner he did. Ali and I are so proud of him.
Alex, 17, qualified for Sunday’s final of the 100-meter butterfly but scratched to concentrate on heats and semifinals of the 200 freestyle.
“That was more stressful than my own swimming, watching that,” Alex said.
Top two make the team, plus six in the 100 and 200 freestyles.
In the 400 freestyle, 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.
Carmel’s Jake Mitchell, who made the 2021 team and finished eighth at the Tokyo Olympics, was eighth in 3:50.76.
Ledecky won the women’s 400 freestyle to make her fourth Olympic team. Ledecky, 27, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, had a time of 3:58.35, breaking her national championship record of 3:58.44 from June 2017 at the Natatorium at IUPUI.
Paige Madden took the second spot in 4:02.08. Carmel’s 16-year-old Kayla Han, a world junior champion in the 800 freestyle, was fourth in 4:08.21.
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, were fourth (56.78) and eighth (57.97), respectively. Alex Shackell improved her personal best twice Saturday.
In semifinals of the men’s 100 breaststroke, top three were separated by 12 hundredths of a second: Charlie Swanson 59.34, Josh Matheny 59.42, Nic Finke 59.46.
Matheny, who made the world team last year, represents Indiana University. Finke, 30, was gold medalist at the most recent World Championships in February 2024 at Doha.
IU graduate Cody Miller, 32, bronze medalist in this event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was 15th in 1:00.63.
Prelims each day are at 11 a.m. and finals at 8 p.m.
Contact WTHR correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
