Olivia Smoliga Returns To Racing After 16-Month Hiatus At Toronto World Cup

2025 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – Toronto

• October 23-25, 2025
• Toronto, Canada
• SCM (25 meters)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results

After a 16-month hiatus from competition, two-time Olympian and 14-time World Champion Olivia Smoliga returned to racing on Thursday morning at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Toronto, the third and final stop of the circuit.

The 31-year-old competed in two events during the morning session: the 50 backstroke, where she won heat one in 26.41 to advance to the final in seventh, and the 50 freestyle, where she clocked 24.74 to finish 10th overall.

Her personal bests in the two events stand at 25.74 and 23.91, both set during the 2020 ISL season.

She foreshadowed her return to racing on Instagram last night, writing:

Been at home with @newtrieraquatics for the past few weeks and felt encouraged to race again. My steps back to the pool have been really fueled by teaching at In Depth. Going around the country leading clinics or mindfulness training in the online space allows me to experience my own process with fresh eyes. It’s been cool and I’m excited to see where we go from here!

Smoliga’s last official races came at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, where she touched the wall 10th in the 50 free (24.78) and 13th in the 100 free (54.52).

While she trained at the University of Georgia and Arizona State University for most of her professional career, Smoliga is now training with New Trier Aquatics, a club team based in Winnetka, Illinois. The program, which has about 600 swimmers according to USA Swimming, is located roughly 15 minutes from her alma mater, Glenbrook South High School.

Although Smoliga took a step back after the 2024 Trials, she hasn’t strayed far from the pool. She’s still had chlorine on her mind as she’s been building her business, In Depth Swim Academy.

Smoliga’s academy is designed to provide swimmers with a holistic and transformative approach to the sport, blending elite technical swim clinics with empowering workshops focused on mental and physical mastery. Swimmers receive individualized feedback on their strokes, starts, and turns from Smoliga herself, along with guidance on topics such as goal setting, visualization, breath work, yoga, recovery, and strategies for navigating setbacks and developing a winning mindset.

The academy’s first in-person event took place in February, exclusively with New Trier Aquatics.