Double open water Olympic gold medalist Sharon van Rouwendaal will bypass the 2025 World Championships, she confirmed in a social media post.
After finishing 2nd in the famous South African open water race the Midmar Mile, where she served as a guide to the winner and three-time Paralympian Alani Ferreira, who is visually impaired, Van Rouwendaal said that in 2025 she is going to focus instead on giving back to the sport through swimming clinics around the world.
The Post Reads:
After much consideration, I have decided not to participate in the 2025 World Championships in Singapore. Instead, I am currently focusing on something that brings me great fulfillment: giving back to the sport. Through swimming clinics around the world, I am sharing my experience and inspiring the next generation of swimmers. This feels like a valuable and natural step in my career.
What the future holds, I don’t know yet. Swimming has been a huge part of my life for so long, and while I am stepping away from the World Championships for now, I remain open to new opportunities. In September, I will take the time to reflect on where my heart lies and whether I am ready for a new challenge.
For now, I am enjoying this new chapter and am grateful for all the support I receive. Thank you to everyone who continues to follow me on this journey. I look forward to seeing what the future brings!
Sharon
A distance swimmer from a country of sprinters, the Dutchwoman Van Rouwendaal made history at the Paris Olympics by winning a second gold medal in the open water 10km marathon swim. That not only made her the first swimmer in the history of the event to win two Olympic gold medals, but it also made her the first swimmer to win three Olympic medals in open water swimming when combined with her Tokyo 2020 silver.
Now 31, she says that in September she will evaluate her options for the future. While open water swimming is relatively-new to the Olympics (its debut was in 2008), it is a discipline that tends to see more longevity on average than the pool version of the sport does.
Besides her Olympic gold medal, van Rouwendaal also is a three-time World Champion about 10 total World Aquatics Championships medals. She won the 10k in 2022 and did the 5k and 10k double in 2024 in a meet that still saw very good open water fields in spite of a dip in the talent present in the pool. One of those 10 World Championship medals is an individual bronze in the 200 backstroke from 2011 and another is an individual silver in the 400 free in 2015, making her one of the most-successful crossover swimmers in history. She also has three pool medals from the World Short Course Championships.
Van Rouwendaal made the post about her 2025 plans two hours after posting an early-morning visit from doping control.
Amazing swimmer!
I read the title like 8 times
Very kind and thoughtful of Sharon to inspire and motivate a new generation of open water swimmers!
the 200 back medal from Shanghai is definitely one of the most random fun facts of current swimmers
She certainly is