Canadian Olympic swimmer Kelsey Wog has announced her retirement from competitive swimming at 25 years old.
Wog won a number of international medals while representing Canada, including an individual silver in the 200 breaststroke at the 2016 Short Course World Championships, and raced in a pair of Olympic Games for her home country.
The news was previously reported in an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press after her last swim in Paris, but Wog affirmed the news on Tuesday in an Instagram post.
The post reads in full:
The end of an unforgettable era.
I’m so grateful for everything this sport has given me, the friends, the lessons, the experiences, and what it feels like to truly find a passion.
I’m stepping away from this sport feeling nothing but joy and peace.
Thank you all for everything, it’s been a privilege.
Wog was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, but grew up mostly in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she trained with the University of Manitoba Bisons swim team from a young age before eventually matriculating to their varsity squad.
Her international breakthrough came at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games and 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships. At the Youth Olympics, she finished 6th in the 200 breaststroke among four individual entries: an event that would eventually become her primary race.
A week later she won bronze as part of Canada’s 400 medley relay at Junior Pan Pacs, and two years later at the 2016 edition of Junior Pan Pacs she won silver in the 200 breast, silver on the medley relay, and bronze in the 100 breast.
That same year, she won her biggest senior international medal, taking silver in the 200 breaststroke at the World Short Course Championships.
After beginning her college career, she swam on the winning Canadian 400 free relay at the 2017 World University Games and in the 2019-2020 season was named the U Sports Female Athlete of the Year as Canada’s top female collegiate athlete.
She won two more international medals in 2022, taking silver in the 800 free relay at the 2022 Short Course World Championships and bronze in the 400 medley relay at the 2022 Long Course World Championships, swimming prelims legs in both races.
Her last big international medal came in 2023 at the Pan American Games, where she won silver in the 200 breaststroke in 2:23.49. That put her a tenth behind her Canadian teammate Sydney Pickrem.
In two Olympic appearances, Wog was unable to match her best times and advance beyond the semi-finals. In Tokyo, she finished 23rd in prelims of the 100 breaststroke (1:07.73) and was disqualified in the semi-finals of the 200 breaststroke after a 2:24.27 for 16th place in prelims.
In Paris, she was 13th in semis of the 200 breaststroke in 2:24.82. Her time from the Pan American Games earlier in the season would ahve qualified her for the final.
Wog retires with bests of 1:06.44 in the 100 breaststroke and 2:22.42 in the 200 breaststroke, both swum at the 2020 U Sports Championships just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down. Those swims rank her 2nd and 3rd all-time in Canadian history, respectively.
Her short course best of 1:04.22 in the 100 breaststroke, done in December 2023, is the Canadian Record.
Wog showed off her abilities both underwater and in versatility in the International Swimming League in 2019 and 2020. She finished 20th in the MVP standings in the 2020 regular season, second-best on the Toronto Titans behind only Kylie Masse.
“I never, ever imagined in sport when I was seven years old, 10 years old, 15 years old, that I would ever be at an Olympic Games,” Wog told the Winnipeg Free Press during the Olympics. “Just being here is an achievement itself, and I’m proud of how much I’ve grown as a person because of sport.
“This last year I really focused on doing everything I could, and just really enjoying the process and the journey of the sport, and I really think I did that to the best of my ability,” Wog said. “So I’m very satisfied with where I finished and I fully believe that I did everything I could.
“So, I feel really content with what I have accomplished moving through this year,” she said.
As Wog steps away from the sport, she will work on completing a Master’s Degree in Microbiology from the University of Manitoba, but says that she hopes to return to the sport down the road in some capacity.
“I do want to give back to the sport in some way, shape or form,” she said. “I just haven’t quite figured out what that is yet.”
Amazing Canadian career at the height of the current Golden era. Wog was on fire pre-pandemic with those 106.4 and 222 swims mid season in Feb! The COVID shutdown really derailed her momentum that year.
Wog aged a year or 2 younger than Pickrem, Masse and a couple years older than MacNeil, Harvey, Oleksiak, Ruck, Sanchez, Smith etc.
Will be interesting to see if this is the first of many retirements from this incredible group, or if many will carry on thru LA. MacNeil has indicated the former, Oleksiak the latter so far in recent interviews…
There’s another addition to the above list which is also worth noting- Sophie Angus (1999). She was at the Paris games as well and is 25 (I think- so ~29 in ‘28…). Breaststroke has been a slight gap for Canada both in the individual events and during relays at the WC and especially the Olympics. There’s only been 1 sub 1:06 and 2:21 (100 & 200 LCM) breaststroker for Canada all-time- Annamay Pierse at 1:05.74 and 2:20.12 respectively from 2009 during the super-suit era. Wog’s PB in the 200 (more of her specialty) was 2:22.42. Seems like you need to be under 2:19 these days to win at the Olympics.
Hopefully some of the younger (under 16 year olds can… Read more »
Kelsey was a model of consistency for Canadian breaststroke the last 2 Olympic cycles. She continued to live and train in Canada too which is often not the case for the highest calibre swimmers. She is leaving the sport as an athlete on her own terms which is great for her to be able to decide. Hopefully, if she feels the urge one day, she can come back and share her knowledge with other young up-and-coming swimmers.
Wishing her good health and happiness in the next chapters of her life!