Indiana high school swimmer Alex Shackell wins two medals at 2024 Paris Olympic Games

Shackell finished sixth in 200 butterfly but was part of two medal-winning relays

Jul 31, 2024; Nanterre, France; Alex Shackell (USA) in the women’s 200-meter butterfly preliminary heats during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Paris La Défense Arena. Mandatory Credit: Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports / Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports

It's going to be hard to top Alex Shackell's family vacation to Paris this summer.

The 17-year-old, who will begin her senior year at Carmel High School in the next few weeks, earned her spot on the United States Olympic swimming team and will leave Paris with a sixth-place finish in the women's 200-meter butterfly along with gold and silver medals for her contributions to a pair of relay teams.

"I've wanted to come to Paris since I was 8 years old," Shackell told KSDK News. "I've had it on a whiteboard when I was younger, when I was 8 years old, and I watched all of Rio and I watched Tokyo. The past three years is when I realized, like, I think I can make it."

Shackell, who won four events at the Indiana swimming and diving championships as a junior for the state champion Greyhounds, swam in the preliminaries for the United States' 4x100 medley relay and 4x200 freestyle relay teams, helping those teams qualify. She did not swim for either relay team in the finals, but her earlier contributions helped her earn gold (4x100 medley relay) and silver (4x200 freestyle relay) medals.

At the 2024 IHSAA Girls Swimming & Diving Championships in February, Shackell won the 100 yard butterfly with a state-record time of 50.25 seconds, won the 100 backstroke, and was a member of Carmel's winning 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay teams.

Alex's older brother Aaron, 19, finished eighth in the 400-meter freestyle. He recently finished his freshman year at the University of California but is transferring to the University of Texas for his second year.

Alex's twin brother, Andrew, will swim in the Junior Pan Pacific event in Australia in August and will also continue his swimming career at the University of Texas. He was previously committed to the University of California.

The Shackell's father, Nicholas, was an 18-time All-American swimmer at Auburn University who represented England at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Mother Ali was a three-time All-American swimmer at Auburn.

Aaron, Alex and Andrew grew up in Missouri, in the St. Louis area, before the family moved to Carmel, Indiana, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Related: Indiana high school athletes competing in 2024 Paris Olympic Games

Alex and Andrew Shackell were two of the four 2024 United States Olympians from Carmel High School, joining two-time (2020, 2024) Olympic swimmer Drew Kibler and three-time Olympian (2016, 2020, 2024) tennis player Rajeev Ram.

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Kibler was a member of the United States' 4x200 freestyle relay team that finished fourth in Tokyo in 2020. Ram, 40, took silver in men's doubles tennis with teammate Austin Krajicek on Saturday.

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- Nate Latsch | latsch@scorebooklive.com