Jake Mitchell is a competitive swimmer who represents the United States internationally. He is a 2021 Olympian in the 400 free and Big Ten & SEC Champion in the 500 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.
College
2020-2022 (Michigan)
In his first conference championships for Michigan, Mitchel captured Bit Ten titles in the 500 free (4:12.92) and as a part of the 800 free relay, splitting 1:32.95. He also placed 2nd in the 1,650 (14:42.60) and 4th in the 200 free (1:33.56).
At his first NCAA Champs, Mitchell placed 28th in the 500 free, 21st in the 200 free, and 22nd in the 1,650.
At his 2nd Big Ten Champs, Mitchell placed 2nd in the 500 free (4:12.88), 400 IM (3:41.39), and 1,650 (14:44.22).
In the 2022 NCAA Champs, Mitchell placed 46th in the 500 free and 36th in the 400 IM. It was later revealed that Mitchell found out he had Mono after the 400 IM and withdrew from the rest of the meet.
After the 2021-22 season, Mitchell entered the NCAA transfer portal and ultimately ended up transferring to Florida.
2022-23 (Florida)
During his first season at Florida, Mitchell picked up where he left off. At his first SEC Championships, he won the 500 free (4:09.85) and was a part of Florida’s winning 800 free relay. He also placed 10th in the 200 free (1:32.69) and 6th in the 1,650 (14:46.91).
At the 2023 NCAA Champs, Mitchell earned NCAA All-American honors for the first time, placing 5th in the 500 free (4:10.54) as well as 10th in the 200 free (1:32.36) and 22nd in the 1,650 (14:52.82).
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) |
2023 U.S. International Team Trials (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Mitchell made huge strides in the 200 free. First, in prelims, he dropped his 1:46.90 from last summer down to 1:46.25 for the 4th seed for finals. In finals, he dropped further to a 1:45.82 to keep his 4th and guarantee his spot at Worlds. In the 400 free, he swam a solid 3:46.87 for 3rd, a season-best.
2023 World Aquatics Championships (Fukuoka, Japan)
Mitchell had just the 800 free relay on his schedule. In prelims, he was the fastest American with a 1:46.11, earning him a finals spot. On that finals relay, Mitchell split .76 seconds under his PB, even with a slow reaction time of .37. His 1:45.09 was good to maintain 2nd place from when he took over. The team ended up with the silver.
