Background
Jaeger was born in Hackensack, New Jersey on April 30, 1991. He grew up in Fair Haven, New Jersey after his family moved there in 2003. He has an older sister, Dana, with whom he grew up swimming.
Jaeger was born in Hackensack, New Jersey on April 30, 1991. He grew up in Fair Haven, New Jersey after his family moved there in 2003. He has an older sister, Dana, with whom he grew up swimming.
Jaeger attended the University of Michigan where he was a three-time All-American. He graduated from Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School in 2010.
He currently holds the United States. Open record in the 800-meter freestyle and the American record in the 1500-meter freestyle. He began swimming seriously at age eight with the Central Jersey Aquatic Club (CJAC), coached by Corrina Weinkofsky and Cathy Corcione. He excelled at swimming quickly, making the New Jersey All-Star squad and the Junior Olympics before he turned 13.
As a teenager, Jaeger worked as a lifeguard while continuing to train with CJAC, where he never missed a practice according to his coaches.
During high school, he was named All-State in the 200-yard freestyle and set five conference swimming records. After high school, Jaeger went to the University of Michigan for college where he is expected to graduate from in 2014.
In 2011, he was part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association title winning 4×200-yard freestyle relay team and was named to the All-Big Ten first team At the 2012 National Collegiate Athletic Association championships, he finished third in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
At the 2012 United States. Olympic Trials, Jaeger made his first Olympic team by finishing second behind Andrew Gemmell in the 1,500-meter freestyle with a time of 14:52.51.
With a margin of just thirty-two (032) one-hundredths of a second between Gemell and Jaeger, it was one of the closest 1,500-meter finishes in Trials history. Jaeger"s swim was also the fifth fastest time in the world during 2012 heading into the Olympics. Foreign Jaeger, it was only the fifth time he ever swam the 1,500 in competition.
In the preliminary round of the event, he went under fifteen minutes for the first time in his career, despite miscounting his laps and swimming an extra 100 meters.
He also competed in the 400-meter freestyle, and finished sixth in the final with a time of 3:49.55. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Jaeger swam in the preliminary round of the 1,500-meter freestyle on August 3, qualifying seventh for the final on August 4.
In the final, he placed sixth with a time of 14:52.99. At the 2013 World Aquatics Championships, Jaeger qualified to swim in 3 individual events: the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle.
In his first event, the 400-meter freestyle, Jaeger placed third in the final with a personal best time of 3:44.85, finishing behind Sun Yang and Kosuke Hagino.
In his second event, Jaeger placed 4th in the 800-meter freestyle in a personal best time of 7:44.26, finishing behind Sun Yang, teammate Michael McBroom, and Ryan Cochrane. In his third and last event, the 1500-meter freestyle, Jaeger placed 4th in the final with a personal best time of 14:47.96. As of August 9, 2015.
He was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic team, and placed sixth in the 1,500-meter freestyle during the 2012 Summer Olympics. Jaeger attended University of Michigan, where he was a member of the Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving team