Drew Kibler
Andrew Patrick “Drew” Kibler 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 and the 2022 World Short Course Championships and placed fourth in the event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He is an Olympic silver medalist in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the 200 meter freestyle, he took fourth-place at both the 2022 World Aquatics Championships and the 2022 World Short Course Championships. 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.
Background
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.Career
2016–2018
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.
2019
2019 NCAA Championships
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.2019 Pan American Games
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 7:14.82.2021
2021 NCAA Championships
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.2020 US Olympic Trials
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. For the semifinals, he swam a 49.02, placing 14th and not qualifying for the final. 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.2020 Summer Olympics
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.2022
Heading into championships season his senior year competing collegiately for the Texas Longhorns under Hall of Fame Coach Eddie Reese, 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.2022 Big 12 Championships
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. Finishing in 42.38 seconds in the final, Kibler placed third behind two of his University of Texas teammates. Concluding the Championships, he helped the University of Texas 4×100 yard freestyle relay win in a Championships record time of 2:47.59, swimming a 41.80 for the second 100-yard portion of the relay.2022 NCAA Championships
On day one of the 2022 NCAA Championships, Kibler helped break the American, US Open, and NCAA records he helped set in 2019 in the 4×200 yard freestyle relay, lowering his split time from the former records by over 1.50 seconds to a 1:30.54 to help win the event in 6:03.89. In the morning prelims heats on the second day, he qualified for the final of the 50 yard freestyle tied in rank for second with a personal best time of 18.60 seconds. Swimming a 18.87 in the final, he placed sixth overall, finishing 0.31 seconds behind first-place finisher Brooks Curry. For his second event of the evening, Kibler led-off the 4×50 yard freestyle relay in 18.83 seconds to help achieve a third-place finish in 1:14.41. The third day of competition, he ranked first in the prelims heats of the 200 yard freestyle, qualifying for the final with a time of 1:30.91. In the final, he swam a personal best time of 1:30.28 to win the NCAA title and break the pool record of 1:30.46 set by Townley Haas in 2016, finishing 0.44 seconds ahead of third-place finisher and freshman Matthew Sates. His win made him the first swimmer from Carmel to win an individual NCAA title in swimming.Equalling his personal best time of 41.45 seconds in the preliminary heats of the 100 yard freestyle on day four, Kibler qualified for the final ranking fifth. In the final of the event, he achieved a personal best time of 41.33 seconds and placed sixth, which was 0.24 seconds off of the podium third-place finish time of 41.09 by Andrey Minakov. In his final event of the Championships, he led-off the 4×100 yard freestyle relay in 41.58 to a help achieve the NCAA title with a final time of 2:46.03.