Olympic silver medalist Annie Lazor and her now husband, Brazilian Olympian Vini Lanza, celebrated their wedding on September 15 in Plymouth, Michigan. They announced their engagement via Instagram on December 22, 2022, and have been together since May 2018.
Lazor, originally from Detroit, Michigan, started her collegiate career at Ohio State University before transferring to Auburn University after her freshman year, where she graduated in 2016.
She then retired from swimming after a disappointing Olympic Trials in 2016, where she finished 10th in the 100 breaststroke and 7th in the 200 breaststroke. She took an administrative position at Cal under men’s head swimming coach and former Auburn coach, Dave Durden.
In the spring of 2018, Lazor made her way to Bloomington, where she joined forces with head coach Ray Looze and 100 breaststroke world record holder Lilly King.
At the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Lazor and her training partner, King, went 1-2 in the 200 breaststroke, making it an Indiana sweep in the event. This marked Lazor’s first-ever Olympic team. She went on to win a bronze medal at the Tokyo Games in the event.
At the 2021 Golden Goggles, Lazor won the Perseverance Award after losing her father three months before winning bronze at the Olympics.
In June 2023, it was announced that Lazor would join the University of Florida as an assistant coach. A few weeks later, she announced her retirement from competitive swimming.
The University of Florida women’s team is coming off a breakout year after finishing 3rd at the NCAA Championships, their best finish since 2010. They established themselves as the best combined program in the nation with both genders finishing 3rd at NCAAs.
Lazor’s husband, Lanza, swam collegiately for Indiana University from the spring of 2016 to 2019. He was a three-time Big Ten Swimmer of the Meet and clinched an NCAA Championship in the 100 butterfly during his senior season with a time of 44.37. This victory made him the first Hoosier to win the 100 butterfly since Mark Spitz in 1972. He was also a key part of the winning 400 medley relay team, swimming the butterfly leg.
Both Lazor and Lanza competed on the London Roar ISL team during the 2020 and 2021 seasons and overlapped in their time at Indiana.
Lanza competes internationally for his home country of Brazil. At the 2018 Tokyo Pan Pacific Championships, he won his first major international medal in the 100 butterfly, touching for bronze in 51.44. He placed 26th at the Tokyo Games in the 100 butterfly and 25th in the 200 IM.
He recently competed at the 2023 Peru Pan American Games, where he earned a silver in the 100 butterfly.
Plymouth, “Michigan”
Courtesy message: Olympic silver medalist Annie Lazor and her now husband, Brazilian Olympian Vinicius Lanza,
I believe she won the bronze.
Annie Lazor Lanza congrats!