Drew Kibler is Carmel's first Olympic swimming medalist, taking silver in freestyle relay

NANTERRE, France – He was Carmel’s first Olympian in swimming. First individual NCAA champion. First world medalist. First world gold medalist.

Now, after Tuesday night, Drew Kibler is Carmel’s first Olympic swim medalist.

He swam third leg for the U.S. team finishing second in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay at Paris La Defense Arena.

Great Britain won the gold medal in 6:59.43, about a second off the world and Olympic record of 6:58.56 set by the United States at Beijing 2008. The Americans’ time for silver was 7:00.98. Australia took bronze in 7:01.78.

“He has worked incredibly hard to earn this opportunity, and in the final, he stepped up and had a terrific swim on the relay,” said Carmel coach Chris Plumb, a member of the U.S. coaching staff. “He made Carmel, USA Swimming and Texas proud tonight.”

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It was a redemptive moment for Kibler, 24, a member of the relay team that finished fourth at Tokyo in 2021. It was the first time any American relay hadn’t finished on an Olympic podium.

He has stated the standard remains the same for American relays – gold medals – but said missing that podium ultimately energized them.

“It went from something that was a source of sadness and struggle to something that made us really excited,” he said.

Before the race, the four British swimmers had a collective 15 Olympic medals and the Americans three. Team GB – James Guy, Tom Dean, Matt Richards, Duncan Scott -- was deservedly favored.

Richards called Kibler “a mate,” and the two raced stroke-for-stroke on the third leg. Richards’ split was 1:45.11, or .01 faster than the Carmel swimmer.

“I was trying to sit on his hip in the fight on the last lap,” Richards said.

Splits for Team USA: Luke Hobson, 1:45.55; Carson Foster, 1:45.31; Kibler, 1:45.12; Kieran Smith, 1:44.80.

“I think the quartet that GB has put up the last two Olympics, we knew we’d have to have a pretty near-perfect race,” Smith said. “Tonight I think we just made more mistakes than GB. I don’t think it’s out of the question that would challenge that country for gold in the next few years.”

Hobson, Foster and Kibler have all been University of Texas swimmers. Indeed, Foster and Kibler had never lost together in this relay, including two NCAA titles and two 2022 world golds (long course and short course).

This medal contributed to a send-off for recently retired Texas coach Eddie Reese. Kibler said U.S. coach Anthony Nesty of Florida approached him during a warm-down and told him he believed in him and that this relay “had been held up by Longhorns” for many years.

“I started to tear up and cry a little bit,” Kibler said. “It was like, ‘This is really powerful.’ It was a reminder, you’ve just got to swim for something bigger.”

Kibler is one of seven American men to have made global teams in each of the past four years. The others: Hunter Armstrong, Nic Fink, Bobby Finke, Chase Kalisz, Ryan Murphy, Smith. Fink and Kibler were the only two without Olympic medals before Paris, and now they have theirs, too.

Kibler led off in prelims and finished third in the 200 freestyle at Olympic Trials . . . but that did not guarantee him a spot in the final four. Waiting on selection created “a high level of anxiety,” he conceded.

“And then knowing I was on the final, I knew that I had to honor the guys I was on the prelim relay with,” he said. “Any one of those guys could have stepped up. I had to represent them well."

Because they swam in prelims, also winning silvers were Indiana University graduate Blake Pieroni, of Chesterton, and Notre Dame’s Chris Guiliano. It was a third medal in as many Olympics for Pieroni, who swam in 4x100 freestyle prelims in 2016 and 2021.

Prelim splits: Kibler, 1:46.43; Brooks Curry, 1:45.96; Pieroni, 1:46.44; Guiliano, 1:46.74.

In this relay, the United States has won 17 gold medals, six silver (1912, 1978, 1936, 1956, 2000, 2024) and one bronze (1908).

Also in the final were IU’s Rafael Miroslow, a 1:46.32 leg for Germany in eighth, and Tomer Frankel, a 1:47.71 leg for Israel in ninth.

Elsewhere, IU’s Josh Matheny was sixth in semifinals of the 200 breaststroke in 2:09.70, advancing to Wednesday’s final.

Guiliano was sixth in semifinals of the 100 freestyle in 47.72, and he will race for a third medal in the final Wednesday.

In heats of the women’s 1,500 freestyle, IU’s Ching Hwee Gan lowered her own Singaporean record to 16:10.13 and was ninth, less than two seconds from the final. She was third in March’s NCAA Championships in the 1,650-yard freestyle.

Contact IndyStar correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com . Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Drew Kibler is Carmel's first Olympic swimming medalist, taking silver in freestyle relay