Olympic Champion Ruta Meilutyte Is Back In The Water (Video)

2021 LITHUANIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

  • Thursday, December 16th – Saturday, December 18th
  • Klaipeda, Lithuania
  • SCM (25m)
  • Results

The 2021 Lithuanian Short Course Championships kicked off yesterday in Klaipeda and attendees were treated to seeing an icon dive back in after a long break.

2012 Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte announced her retirement from competitive swimming in May of 2019 at the age of 22. However, the now-24-year-old is competing this weekend in several events.

Meilutyte contested the women’s 100m breaststroke yesterday where she took the win handily in a mark of 1:05.23. After landing lane 4 in the morning heats with a time of 1:07.53, the ace split 30.50/34.73 to capture the first gold of her comeback.

The former Plymouth Leander athlete also raced the 50m fly, finishing runner-up in 26.69, just .07 outside of her lifetime best.

This morning on day 2, Meilutyte topped the women’s 50m breaststroke heats, producing a time of 30.35 before dropping that down to an impressive 29.33 to grab the gold.

Just for perspective, Meilutyte owns lifetime bests of 28.81 in the 50m breast from 2014 and 1:02.36 in the 100m breast. The latter performance stands as the current short course World Record in the event. She produced the mark in 2013 although Jamaican Alia Atkinson has since matched it on two occasions to share the WR designation.

Meiltutye hasn’t raced since 2018 and, at this point, it’s unclear what Meiluttye’s intentions are in terms of a carer resurgence.

According to Lithuanian media, Meilutyte says, “I haven’t made a decision to continue my career, but it’s always fun to swim. I just wanted to see if there was still a desire to compete.”

Meilutyte’s 100m breaststroke

 

 

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CESAR RAMIREZ GRONERT
1 year ago

Es sorprendente, me gusta la actitud de Ruta. Decidió alejarse de la natación por motivos de salud emocional y pues el descanso es muy bueno para todo deportista. Pense que nunca mas la vería en el agua. Aunque soy de sudamerica me encanta y soy muy seguidor de ella la tengo hasta como fondo de pantalla en mi teléfono. Me llena de alegria y de mucha satisfacción verla otra vez vamos ruta eres la mejor del mundo. Te adoro…

Skipper
2 years ago

Is it 18 months she needs to be back in the drug testing pool? Would Lith nationals not mean that she would have had to re-enter anyway? 100% interest only in the process zero shade

Troyy
Reply to  Skipper
2 years ago

It’s 6 months and if she removed herself from the testing pool her ban would’ve been paused so I doubt she did that.

Big Mac #1
2 years ago

How is she so young, it is astonishing

Aquajosh
2 years ago

“Oh you know, just for funzies”: Swims faster than the time to win gold at Worlds in the 50 breast.

Welcome back, Ruta!

Swimfan
2 years ago

Legend.
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Anonymoose
Reply to  Swimfan
2 years ago

the original lydia jacoby

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Anonymoose
2 years ago

Except Ruta was seeded first for finals.

Eric the eel > Phelps
2 years ago

Ruta : “I haven’t made a decision to continue my career”

29.30, faster than the world champion

tea rex
2 years ago

Not bad for a swammer. What’s the master’s WR?

There's no doubt that he's tightening up
Reply to  tea rex
2 years ago

She’s younger than Lilly King lol

Fraser Thorpe

She’s 2 days younger than Ledecky too

Admin
Reply to  tea rex
2 years ago

She’s too young for Masters WRs. They don’t recognize WRs until the 25-29 age group.

HJones
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

Just goes to show how young she broke out onto the scene.

M Palota
2 years ago

Her reaction time off the blocks is phenomenal!! One the quickest in the entire sport, men or women.

HJones
Reply to  M Palota
2 years ago

She is on the shortlist of the best female starters ever. The only other I can really think of would be Kromo.

Anonymoose
Reply to  HJones
2 years ago

she is on the list of short elite swimmers thats true

HJones
Reply to  Anonymoose
2 years ago

5’8″ is hardly short for a female, even in swimming.

oxyswim
Reply to  M Palota
2 years ago

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About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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