At least three Hamilton County athletes are heading to Tokyo for the Olympic games.
Fishers teen Tyler Downs won the 3-meter springboard competition June 13 at the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. Carmel High School graduate Drew Kibler finished third June 15 in the men’s 200-meter freestyle to earn a spot on the 800-meter relay team, and another CHS grad, Jake Mitchell, swam the 400-meter freestyle fast enough in a time trial that same night to make the team in that event.
Downs, 17, defeated a pair of former Olympians, David Boudia of Noblesville and Michael Hixon, to secure one of the two spots on the men’s Olympic diving team. Andrew Capobianco of Indiana University finished second to earn the other spot.
Downs scored 1333.75 points, 14.35 points higher than Capobianco and 18.8 than Boudia, a three-time Olympian. The Olympic Games begin July 23 and conclude Aug. 8.
“I had no expectations going into this competition, just to have fun and that’s what I did. I dove my best and made it onto the Olympic team,” Downs said on NBC after securing his spot on Team USA.
Downs, originally from St. Louis, moved to Fishers for training purposes. He will continue his diving career in the fall at Purdue University, where Boudia will be one of his coaches. Boudia is a four-time Olympic medalist.
Kibler, 21, swam the 400-meter freestyle in 1:45.66 to finish behind Kieran Smith and Townley Haas. The top four finishers automatically make the relay team.
Mitchell, 19, finished second in the 400-meter freestyle June 13, a finishing position that would have automatically put him on the team, but his time of 3:48.17 was not fast enough to qualify. On June 15 he swam alone and finished with a time of 3:45.86, which earned him a spot on the team.
