Carmel’s Aaron Shackell qualifies for Olympic finals

PARIS (WISH) — After qualifying for the Olympics in his home state of Indiana as the fastest American swimmer in the men’s 400-meter freestyle, Aaron Shackell went over to Paris to swim for a medal.

In the men’s 400-meter freestyle finals on Saturday, Shackell finished in 8th. He was 5.22 seconds behind the winner.

Earlier in the day, Shackell qualified for the final with the sixth fastest time, just 1.32 seconds behind the fastest swimmer.

He was the only American swimmer to qualify for the finals.

Lucas Maertens from Germany won the gold medal for the event.

His sister, Alex Shackell, will compete in the 200-meter butterfly and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. The 200-meter butterfly heats start on Wednesday, July 31. The 4×200-meter freestyle relay heats start on Thursday, Aug. 1.

The women’s 400m freestyle also had a final on Saturday. There were two Americans in the final, Katie Ledecky and Paige Madden. Ledecky medaled, finishing in third and getting the bronze. Madden finished in 6th.

Wrapping up the medal races on Saturday were the men’s and women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relays. The United States won the men’s race and won silver in the women’s race.