Jake Mitchell is a competitive swimmer who represents the United States internationally. He is a 2021 Olympian in the 400 free.
High School
Mitchell was ranked #8 on SwimSwam’s Top 20 NCAA Recruits for the class of 2020. On January 28, 2019, Mitchell announced his verbal commitment to swim for Michigan.
National/International Competition
2019 World Junior Championships (Budapest, Hungary)
Mitchell finished fourth in the 400 free (3:47.95) and seventh in the 800 free (7:54.70) and 1500 free (15:16.28).
Mitchell was part of the United States’ gold medal and world junior record setting 4×200 free relay, alongside Jake Magahey, Luca Urlando and Carson Foster. Mitchell split 1:47.03 on the 3rd leg.
For his swims in the 400 and 800 free, Mitchell qualified for the USA 2019-2020 National Team.
2021 Olympic Trials
In Omaha, Jake Mitchel started off Day 1 by finishing 2nd in the 400 free to Kieran Smith at 3:48.17. While that normally would have put him on the Olympic team, he didn’t get under the FINA A cut, and therefore was not guaranteed a spot. Rather, he (along with many of his competitors) had the opportunity to time trial the event to try and get the A cut before the Olympic qualifying period ended.
There were originally 2 time trials planned after the 400 free final on Sunday – one for the following Tuesday and one for the following Friday. However, Mitchell was the only one who opted for swimming the one on Tuesday. To date, it was the most electric time trial in swimming history.
Swimming all on his own, with an electric crowd on its feet, the 19-year-old Carmel Swim Club member went out with reckless abandon in the race, flipping two seconds faster at the 100 and more than three at the 200 compared to his time in the individual final.
His second 200 was split similarly, and he ultimately crushed the qualifying time by close to a second in 3:45.86, torching his 2019 best time of 3:47.95 by over two seconds and putting Mitchell on the 2020 Olympic Team.
Split Comparison
| 400 FR FINAL | 400 FR TT |
| 26.28 | 25.16 |
| 28.34 (54.62) | 27.47 (52.63) |
| 28.98 (1:23.60) | 28.47 (1:21.10) |
| 29.32 (1:52.92) | 28.76 (1:49.86) |
| 29.47 (2:22.39) | 29.13 (2:18.99) |
| 29.28 (2:51.67) | 28.90 (2:47.89) |
| 28.71 (3:20.38) | 29.13 (3:17.02) |
| 27.79 (3:48.17) | 28.84 (3:45.86) |
