Ice swimmer and coach Joe Zemaitis should be rightly proud of his young protege, Keaton Jones (@keatonjones_swim).
Now a student-athlete at the University of California Berkeley, Jones is the sole American swimmer who will compete in the final heat of the 200 meter backstroke tonight.
2024 Paris Olympic Games Final Heat
- Lane 1: Mewen Tomac (France) 1:56.43
- Lane 2: Apostolos Christou (Greece) 1:56.33
- Lane 3: Pieter Coetze (South Africa) 1:56.09
- Lane 4: Hubert Kos (Hungary) 1:55.96
- Lane 5: Roman Mityukov (Switzerland) 1:56.05
- Lane 6: Lukas Maertens (Germany) 1:56.33
- Lane 7: Keaton Jones (USA) 1:56.39
- Lane 8: Hugo Gonzalez de Oliveira (Spain) 1:56.52
With a best time of 1:54:61, Jones potentially has a great shot to get on the podium tonight.
It was only last year when Jones competed at the IISA 5th World Championship in Samoëns, France when he dominated the competition and set world records in the 50m backstroke, the 100m butterfly, the 100m freestyle, and the 100m backstroke, and won the 50m freestyle while competing in both the 4×50 mixed medley relay and the 4x250m mixed freestyle relay.
Dial forward a year and now Jones is ready to race for his first Olympic medal.
He is a swimmer – pure and simply – both in the open water and in the pool.
The IOC described Jones’ background: “This is his Olympic Games debut. 2023 World University Games gold medal in the 200m backstroke, 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships bronze in the 200m backstroke, 2nd at USA Olympic Games trials in the 200m backstroke with personal best time 1:54.61, competed at 2023 International Ice Swimming Association World Championship in Samoens while setting 5 World Records. Coach is Dave Durden at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.”
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