Hard work is his forte

Meet Noblesville’s Luke Whitlock, nation’s youngest Olympic swimmer in 24 years

By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com

Some people enjoy doing things because they’re difficult.

Luke Whitlock is one of those people. At age 12, he swam his first-ever mile race and enjoyed it.

“It’s just something I’ve always liked to do, because it’s hard,” said Whitlock. “I just like working hard. It just makes me feel good.”

Here’s something else that feels good: qualifying for the Olympics. Whitlock, representing with Fishers Area Swimming Tigers, did that last month at the Olympic Swim Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium, where he finished second in the 800 freestyle and earned a place on the U.S. Olympic Team.

The recent Noblesville High School graduate clocked in with a time of 7 minutes, 45.19 seconds, just behind reigning gold medalist Robert Finke’s time of 7:44.22.

“I went out pretty aggressive the first half of the race,” said Whitlock. “I was hurting pretty bad at the end, but I still got the job done. I was happy that I took that chance to go out fast. It paid off.”

“The 7:45 that he went was a national age group record, “said FAST coach Joe Keller. “Three seconds faster than any other 17-18 year old’s gone in U.S. history. “And one think that Luke will mention, he wants to go faster, but one of the things that he wants to do is have an opportunity to break the world junior record.” The world junior record is 7:43; Keller said, “we want to put him in a position to do that.”

The winner of a race at the Trials gets first priority on the Olympic team, with the runner-up receiving second priority. But Whitlock was confident that he would be on the roster.

“There’s never been a second-place individual person that hasn’t been named to the team, so I pretty much knew that I was going to make it anyway,” said Whitlock.

“Nothing he does surprises me,” said Keller. “I actually told people, they were asking, and I said, ‘I’d be more surprised if he didn’t make the Olympic team than if he did. I think that was a surprise to people, but to me, watching him every day and doing what he was doing, I was pretty confident he had a legitimate chance.”

Whitlock began swimming when he was 10 years old. He began to rapidly improve in 2022 at age 16, making his first big splash by placing fifth in the 7.5K race at the Open Water Junior Nationals in Sarasota, Fla.

He continued to drop time consistently throughout the next two years, first breaking the eight-minute mark in the 800 free at the 2023 World Aquatics Junior Championships in Netanya, Israel. He finished fifth in that race with a time of 7:55.00.

It all came to a head in Indianapolis. The swimming news website swimswam.com placed Whitlock on its breakout watch, calling him “a name to watch as things shake out in the mid-distance freestyle events.” That included the 400 freestyle race.

Whitlock proved he belonged on the list, as he placed first in the 400 free prelims with a time of 3:46.42. That advanced him to the final, where he finished fifth in 3:46.55. But the tone was set for his 800 free race, and he earned his ticket to Paris with a solid performance in that event. Whitlock also made the finals in the 1500 free, where he placed third, just a quarter-second away from second place and qualifying in that event.

At age 18, Whitlock is the youngest man to make the U.S. Olympic team since Michael Phelps qualified for the 2000 Sydney games at age 15. Phelps, of course, went on win 23 gold medals, an all-time Olympics record for all sports.

That’s certainly good company to be with, but Whitlock is keeping his goals realistic when he swims in Paris. He also has an eye on the future, already thinking about the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“I’m just going to try to drop some more time and try to make the final in my event,” said Whitlock. “A medal at this point might be a little bit out of reach, but I think the experience will be awesome if I can get into the final too and set me up well for 2028.”

“I fully expect him to go faster,” said Keller. “I expect him to make a final. If you’ve got one of those eight lanes, you’ve got a chance at one of those medals.”