Drew Kibler

For the semifinals, he swam a 49.02, placing 14th and not qualifying for the final.

Andrew Patrick “Drew” Kibler (born March 9, 2000) is an American competition swimmer specializing in freestyle events.

He is a world record holder in the short course 4×200 meter freestyle relay and a former American record holder in the 4×200 yard freestyle relay.

He won a gold medal in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay each at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships (long course) and the 2022 World Short Course Championships and placed fourth in the event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

In the 200 meter freestyle, he took fourth-place at both the 2022 World Aquatics Championships and the 2022 World Short Course Championships.

In his third event, the 100 meter butterfly, he placed 23rd in the prelims heats with a time of 53.10 seconds.

On the final day of competition, he decided not to swim the 50 meter freestyle.

In August 2016, at the Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships for the year, Kibler won a gold medal in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay, a silver medal in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay, the bronze medal in the 200 meter freestyle, won the b-final of the 50 meter freestyle, placed second in the b-final of the 100 meter freestyle, and placed nineteenth in the 400 meter freestyle.

As part of the 4×200 meter freestyle relay at the 2017 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, held in Indianapolis in August, Kibler won a silver medal, swimming the anchor leg of the relay in the preliminaries in a time of 1:48.43.

He also initially won a gold medal as part of the 4×100 meter medley relay, swimming backstroke in the final, however the medal was later disqualified due to an anti-doping rule violation by one of his fellow relay teammates.

In his non-medaling events, he placed fourth in the 100 meter backstroke with a time of 54.97 seconds, fifteenth in the 100 meter butterfly with a 53.80, and helped achieve a fourth-place finish in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay, splitting a 50.04 for the third leg of the relay in the final after swimming on the prelims relay as well.

The following year, at the 2018 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, held in August in Suva, Fiji, he won the 200 meter freestyle with a Championships record time of 1:47.65 as well as winning gold medals in the 100 meter freestyle, 4×100 meter freestyle relay, 4×200 meter freestyle relay, and 4×100 meter medley relay, a silver medal in the 50 meter freestyle, and placing second in the b-final of the 100 meter butterfly.

He is also a three-time NCAA champion in the 4×200 yard freestyle relay, winning NCAA titles in the event in 2019, 2021, and 2022.

Kibler was born with a hearing impairment, wears hearing aids outside the pool but not in the water, and works through difficulties hearing whistles signaling to competitors a race is about to start at swimming competitions.

At the 2019 NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas in March, Kibler set new NCAA, American, and US Open records with relay teammates Austin Katz, Jeff Newkirk, and Townley Haas in the 4×200 yard freestyle relay in a time of 6:05.08, leading-off the relay on the first 200-yard stretch with a 1:32.06.

He also won the bronze medal in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:31.76, placed ninth in the 50 yard freestyle with a b-final-winning time of 19.15 seconds, and placed sixteenth overall in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 42.63 seconds in the b-final.

At the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, Kibler won three medals.

In the 4×100 meter freestyle relay on August 6, Kibler won the silver medal with his relay teammates Michael Chadwick, Grant House, and Nathan Adrian with a final time of 3:14.94.

On August 7, Kibler finished third in the final of the 200 meter freestyle with a time of 1:47.71 and won the bronze medal in the event.

Two days later on August 9, Kibler won his third medal, a second silver medal, in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay with relay teammates Grant House, Christopher Wieser, and Samuel Pomajevich who together swam a final relay time of 7:14.82.

At the 2021 NCAA Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, Kibler swam a 41.45 in the prelims heats of the 100 yard freestyle, advancing to the final ranking second.

In the final of the 100 yard freestyle, he tied for second-place.

Later in the same finals session, he anchored the 4×100 yard freestyle relay to a fourth-place finish in 2:48.28, splitting a 41.63.

One day earlier, he placed second in the final of the 200 yard freestyle with a personal best time of 1:30.39, finishing less than three-tenths of a second behind first-place finisher Kieran Smith.

The day before that, he achieved a fifth-place finish in the 500 yard freestyle.

One day earlier, and the first day of competition, he helped win the 4×200 yard freestyle relay in 6:07.25, leading-off the relay with a 1:30.65 on the opening leg.

Kibler qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay by placing third in the 200 meter freestyle final with a time of 1:45.92 at the 2020 US Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska.

In the prelims heats of the 100 meter freestyle, he swam a 48.72 to qualify for the semifinals ranking tenth.

In the prelims heats of the 4×200 meter freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Kibler swam with relay teammates Patrick Callan, Blake Pieroni, and Andrew Seliskar to finish fifth overall and advance the relay to the final.

Following his performance in the prelims, he was selected to swim on the relay in the final along with Zach Apple, Kieran Smith, and Townley Haas, which made him the only relay member to swim in both the prelims and final of the event.

In the final of the event, Kibler helped the relay finish fourth overall.

With his competition at the 2020 Olympic Games, he became the first Olympic swimmer representing the United States from Carmel, Indiana.

Heading into championships season his senior year competing collegiately for the Texas Longhorns, Kibler won the 200 yard freestyle in a new pool record time of 1:32.74 at the Robson and Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium in a dual meet against Southern Methodist University.

At the 2022 Big 12 Conference Championships in February 2022, Kibler led-off the 4×200 yard freestyle relay with a 1:32.20, helping win the event with a final time of 6:08.76 that set a new Championships record.

For the 50 yard freestyle prelims heats on day two, he swam a time of 19.33 seconds to qualify for the evening final ranked third.

He placed third in the final with a time of 19.48 seconds, finishing 0.31 seconds after the first-place finisher.

On the third day, Kibler ranked first in the prelims heats of the 200 yard freestyle, swimming a time of 1:32.88.

He won the final with a 1:32.64, finishing 0.28 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

He also led-off the 4×50 yard freestyle relay in 19.42 seconds later in the same session, however the relay was disqualified when the second swimmer registered a negative reaction time for their start.

In the morning on the fourth and final day of competition, he ranked third in the prelims heats of the 100 yard freestyle with a 42.69.