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Carmel High School’s new natatorium is set to host its first international swimming event this fall.
The first stop of the three-city World Aquatics Swimming World Cup tour will take place Oct. 10-12 in Carmel. Last year’s event featured multiple Olympic swimmers, such as Leon Marchand of France, Noe Ponti of Switzerland and Kate Douglass and Regan Smith of the United States.
Swimmers at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup compete for prize money in a short-course 25-meter format with four meets on each of the three days. In 2022, a total of $1.2 million was distributed to the top 20 male and female swimmers.
Carmel had three Olympic swimmers in 2024—Drew Kibler, Aaron Shakell and Alex Shakell—and is known for having one of the top swimming development programs in the country through the Carmel Swim Club. The Carmel High School girls swimming team has won 39 consecutive state championships, and the school’s boys swimming team has won 11 straight state championships.
“It’s so cool to have a World Cup event not just in the U.S., but right here in my hometown of Carmel,” Alex Shakell, who won gold in the women’s 4×100 meter medley relay and silver in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay at the Paris 2024 Olympics, said in a written statement. “I grew up training at Carmel Swim Club, so seeing some of the world’s best swimmers compete in this Carmel High School pool is really exciting.”
This year, Carmel High School completed a $55 million renovation of the school’s natatorium, which features a 50-meter competition pool, a 50-meter training pool, a diving well and a hydrotherapy area.
The World Aquatics Swimming World Cup will also make stops in Westmont, Illinois, and Toronto.
The Indianapolis metropolitan area has hosted 11 previous World Aquatics events, including the Swimming World Cup 2022 final, the 2019 Champions Series, the 2017 World Junior Swimming Championships and the 2004 World Swimming Championships.
“Hosting the 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup at Carmel High School’s new natatorium is a tremendous opportunity for Hamilton County,” Hamilton County Sports Authority Director Carl Daniels said in a written statement. “This state-of-the-art facility showcases Carmel’s commitment to excellence in swimming and provides an outstanding venue for international competition. We’re proud to partner with Carmel Swim Club to bring this prestigious event to our community.”
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So where are all the folks who were so upset about Carmel wasting its money on this facility? The event is coming to Carmel, not the Indy Natatorium, not the Bloomington pool…
I served on the IUPUI Campus Development Committee back in the late 70s as a student rep. The Natatorium was supposed to be THE Site for these events. I guess 50 years later its past it’s prime. Olympics were held at Lucas, this event in Carmel. Once more, IUB made sure Indy would not upstage B’ton.
Shame we students couldn’t get the UofI name for IUPUI, and make Indy a separate university, just as Mayor Hudnut had hoped.