2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist Abbey Weitzeil will take a year off of training she announced via TikTok. Weitzeil just finished up her 3rd Olympic Games.
Weitzeil made the announcement while going to clean out her locker at Cal, where she has spent the last nine years after competing collegiately with the Golden Bears from 2016-2020 and then training as a pro with the team ever since.
She states this is a “long break I’ve never taken before in my whole life. I’m getting married this fall and I’m just going to live life for a second.”
Weitzeil made her first Olympics in 2016 where she won silver in the women’s 4×100 free relay and gold in the women’s 4×100 medley relay. Her split of a 52.56 in finals of the women’s 4×100 free relay helped the team to a new American Record as well.
She made her 2nd Olympics in 2020(1) where she helped the US women’s 4×100 free relay to bronze and the 4×100 medley relay to silver. She swam in finals on both relays.
After swimming in Tokyo, she competed in the ISL in fall 2021. She just missed making the 2022 World Championship team for the US after finishing 7th in the 100 free at 2022 International Team Trials swimming a 54.41. She also was 6th in the 50 free.
She charged back onto the scene last year, winning the 50 free at 2023 US Summer Nationals in a 24.00 as well as finishing 2nd in the 100 free in a 53.11. She went on to finish 4th in the 50 free and 6th in the 100 free at 2023 Worlds. She also helped the US to four relay medals.
This past summer, she qualified for her 3rd Olympics after finishing 5th in the 100 freestyle at US Olympic Trials. She won two medals in Paris after swimming in prelims of the mixed 4×100 medley relay that went on to win gold as well as in prelims of the women’s 4×100 free relay that won silver.
We seem to only talk about men doing a 50 only focus. What about Abby? And if she ends up not coming back…she is already a legend!
In other words anyone who was on a good relay team with bronze at SC worlds and silver at universiade individually is a legend?
Yes, legend. She has been at (or near) the top of American sprinting throughout the span of three Olympic Games. A person’s legacy isn’t always measured in individual hardware. You would be hard-pressed to have a conversation about women’s sprinting over the last decade without mentioning her name at some point. So, yeah, she has left a mark which will be missed and hard to fill if she didn’t return to the pool.
Good for her, live your life on your own terms
These type of breaks are becoming more common…good for the sport and the longevity of the athlete.