Alex Shackell Maintains Worlds Momentum With Sizzling Relays at Junior Nationals
One day after narrowly missing the World Championships team in her best event, the 200 butterfly, Alex Shackell pulled a surprise when she dropped four-and-a-half seconds in the 200 freestyle to qualify for Worlds as a relay swimmer in the 800 free relay. Weeks later, the 16-year-old whose best time had recently been above 2:00 was anchoring the U.S. finals squad on the biggest stage, tasked with trying to fend off Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus.
As expected, Titmus quickly asserted herself on the anchor leg, but Shackell swam a more-than-respectable 1:56.38 (after going 1:56.05 in prelims) to secure a solid silver medal. That was all for her first senior-level global experience, but Shackell’s summer of racing was not done. When she left Fukuoka, instead of returning home to Indiana, she went to Irvine, Calif., to join her Carmel Swim Club teammates at Junior Nationals.
Shackell scratched most her individual events at Juniors, but she suited up for three relay as well as the individual 50 free. In her first swim, she split 24.42 on the second leg of Carmel’s 200 free relay, eight tenths ahead of her flat-start best time of 25.25. One day later, she led off the 400 free relay in 54.08, beating her previous best time of 54.22, and all the sudden, Shackell is ranked among the top-10 Americans this year in the event. Shackell is one of only three teenagers ranking among the top-15, and the other two, Shackell’s 800 free relay teammates Bella Sims and Erin Gemmell, are both 18, two years older than Shackell.
Finally, Shackell concluded the meet Friday by racing the 50 freestyle, in which she finished tied for third (25.40), and then swimming butterfly in Carmel’s National-Age-Group-record-setting 400 medley relay. She split 57.51, under her flat-start best time of 57.59 from Nationals and only a half-second off the 57.06 that Gretchen Walsh split on the U.S. women’s 400 medley relay that won gold at Worlds.
Again, that’s three days after a 10-hour flight from Japan to California. Even at age 16, that’s a quick turnaround.
Shackell has also been able to cheer on her teammates, including older brother Aaron Shackell, already a winner in the 200 fly, 400 free and 200 free at Juniors. Meanwhile, Carmel won the girls’ competition at Juniors by 4.5 points over second-place Crow Canyon, and the team also topped the combined standings.
The 100 free leadoff leg was a reminder that Shackell will be contending for a spot on next year’s Olympic team in this relay as well as the butterfly events and the 200 free. A swimmer who has never before raced in a semifinal could have a challenging program over the first six days of June’s Olympic Trials with up to 12 potential swims, but quirks in the schedule might work in Shackell’s favor. Here’s what it might look like:
- Saturday, June 15: 100 Butterfly Prelims, 100 Butterfly Semifinals
- Sunday, June 16: 200 Freestyle Prelims, 100 Butterfly Final, 200 Freestyle Semifinals (2nd/last)
- Monday, June 17: 200 Freestyle Final
- Tuesday, June 18: 100 Freestyle Prelims, 100 Freestyle Semifinals
- Wednesday, June 19: 200 Butterfly Prelims, 100 Freestyle Final, 200 Butterfly Semifinals
- Thursday, June 20: 200 Butterfly Final
And if that’s not enough, the schedule would also allow Shackell to race the 200 IM and/or the 50 free after her primary races are complete. The schedule would be intense, but both possible doubles would be doable with the final happening prior to the semifinal. On day two, the 100 fly final is second in the session with the 200 free semis last, and three days later, the 100 free final would come up first with the 200 fly semis seventh. We’ll see which events she attempts, but the teenager has put herself in position to make multiple runs at Paris.
