The first of Carmel’s two swimming Olympians took to the water on Saturday, and he made his way into prime time.
Jake Mitchell made a stunning run into the final of the 400-meter freestyle event Saturday morning at the Tokyo Olympics. Seeded 13th in the semi-finals, Mitchell swam a personal best time of 3:45.38 to place seventh overall, with the top eight advancing to the final and a chance to swim for medals.
Mitchell finished eighth in the final, with a time of 3:45.39, just .01 seconds off his semi-finals time. Mitchell and the other qualifiers swam the finals on Saturday night (Sunday morning in Tokyo) and a large crowd of several hundred people gathered in Carmel’s Midtown Plaza to watch on the big screen television.
The gold medal in the 400 free went to Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui. The 18-year-old came from behind to finish first and give his country its first-ever gold medal in that event. Hafnaoui’s time was 3:43.36. He qualified eighth in the event and swam from Lane 8, making him only the third swimmer in Olympics history to win gold from that lane.
Australian Jack McLoughlin took the silver (3:43.52) and American Kieran Smith took the bronze (3:43.94).
Carmel’s second Olympian, Drew Kibler, will begin his Olympic quest on Tuesday. Kibler will be part of the US men’s 4×200 freestyle relay. The American team will swim in the second of two heats at 7:03 a.m. EDT Tuesday morning. Each heat contains eight teams for a total of 16 competitors. The top eight teams advance to Tuesday night’s final, which is set for 11:26 p.m. EDT.