After FINA World Cup bronze, Carmel's Alex Shackell joins swimming's teen queens
INDIANAPOLIS – Ascendance of teenagers like Torri Huske, Claire Curzan, Katie Grimes, Leah Hayes and Bella Sims is one of the biggest stories in American swimming this year. Not to mention a 16-year-old international superstar like Summer McIntosh of Canada.
Pretty tough to make the 2024 Olympic team or win a medal with those women around, right?
Alex Shackell is not concerned about that right now.
The 15-year-old Carmel High School sophomore won a bronze medal in a FINA World Cup meet Thursday night at the Natatorium at IUPUI. And the Olympic team will be selected 1.4 miles away inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
“Having the 2024 trials here, I get to have my own food and be in my own bed. So it’s really nice,” Shackell said.
Same goes for those a decade older, like Lilly King.
The 25-year-old Hoosier, who overcame a bout of COVID-19 to win gold in the 200 breaststroke at May’s long course World Championships, won the short course version at the Natatorium.
“I feel like I really have to win in this pool,” King said.
McIntosh won the 200 butterfly on this third World Cup stop in 2:03.40. The 16-year-old Grimes was second in 2:04.16, followed by Shackell in 2:05.18. Another American, Hali Flickinger, was fourth in 2:05.50.
At long course worlds, McIntosh won gold and Flickinger silver in the 200 fly.
Shackell won four golds and a 200 butterfly bronze at August’s Junior Pan Pacific meet. These days, she is training at a new level, according to Carmel coach Chris Plumb. She did not rest or taper for this meet, and she was competitive against the world’s best.
“You don’t have to be like 20 or in college to be fast,” Shackell said. “If you have a goal and you want to achieve it, you can do anything.”
It can be difficult to evaluate times because this series is at 25 meters, and Americans spend winters in 25-yard pools. Suffice to say, Grimes is No. 6 and Shackell No. 10 on the all-time U.S. list via their times on night 1. (Carmel's Kelly Pash, 21, won the 200 butterfly at Toronto last week in 2:03.61 for No. 5.)
Shackell knew she would be faster than in the morning because it was “embarrassing” to lose count of laps in prelims. After breaking the Indiana high school record in the 100-yard butterfly as a freshman, she is starting to like the 200 distance.
“I just stick to my own routine,” she said. “I don’t get caught up in what other people are doing.”
King never has. If there was ever an athlete who did her own thing, it is King.
After a rare loss in a 100 breaststroke at Toronto, she went out fast and never relented in winning the 200 by more than two seconds in 2:17.56. She will race in Melbourne, Australia, next month in her first short course worlds since 2016, when she was coming off two gold medals at the Rio Olympics.
“I think of myself as a performer sometime more than an athlete,” King said. “And I try to perform.”
Night 1 highlights
Elsewhere:
>> Katie Ledecky won the 400 freestyle in 3:54.04, far off the world record of 3:51.30 set by China’s Lin Bingjie last week. At Toronto, Ledecky set an American record of 3:52.88 in finishing second to McIntosh (3:52.80).
>> Kieran Smith, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 400 free, took gold in 3:35.99 and was only 1.18 off Peter Vanderkaay’s American record from 2009.
>> Shaine Casas doubled up to win the 200 backstroke in 1:48.40 and 100 individual medley in 51.04. Casas leads World Cup men's point standings and earned a $10,000 bonus by sweeping 200 back at Berlin, Toronto and Indianapolis.
Indiana’s near-medalists
Among those just off the podium was Carmel sprinter Drew Kibler, who went up in distance to the 400 freestyle and finished fourth in 3:40.08. Through 200 meters, he was second in 1:47.31, one second behind Smith.
Also fourth were Indiana University’s Brendan Burns (1:51.98) in the 200 backstroke and IU grad Ali Khalafalla of Egypt (21.37) in the 50 freestyle. IU grad Cody Miller, 30, a double Olympic medalist from 2016, was fifth in the 100 breaststroke in 58.07 after a 57.75 prelim.
Among high schoolers, Carmel’s Lynsey Bowen (4:10.42) and Fishers’ JoJo Ramey (4:10.71) were 11th and 12th in the 400 freestyle; Carmel’s Berit Berglund (27.49) 12th in the 200 backstroke and Zionsville’s Will Modglin (54.60) 16th in the 100 IM.
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: FINA World Cup swimming: Teen Alex Shackell impresses in Indianapolis
