World Championships Medalist Katie Drabot Retires from Competitive Swimming

Former Stanford Cardinal Katie Drabot has announced her retirement from competitive swimming via social media. A 13-time All-American, Drabot helped Stanford to three consecutive NCAA Championship titles (2017, 2018, 2019) during her time with the program. She was a senior during the 2019-2020 season, during which the NCAA Championships were ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 25-year-old announced her retirement from the sport via her Instagram account.

To my parents, my family and my friends — thank you for your guidance and inspiration to make me a woman who is brave enough and strong enough to make this decision. Thank you for all of your unwavering support and sacrifices throughout the years. – Katie Drabot

Drabot was a member of three NCAA title winning relays during her time at Stanford, helping the 400 and 800 free relays to national titles in 2018, as well as the 800 again in 2019. She had arguably her best season in 2017-2018, where she would finish second at NCAAs in both the 200 fly and 500 free, also taking fourth in the 200 free. Drabot was fifth in the 200 fly at the 2019 NCAAs. Her personal best of 1:51.42 in the yards 200 fly makes her the 14th-fastest woman ever in the event.

Though she had a worse finish at the 2019 NCAAs in the 200 fly than she did in 2018, Drabot would go on to have an exceptional summer, winning a bronze medal in the LCM 200 fly at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. That would mark Drabot’s first World Championships medal of her career.

Prior to her Worlds bronze, Drabot had also won bronze in the 200 fly at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships. At the 2017 World University Games, Drabot won a trio of medals, taking silver in the 200 free and helping the American 4×100 and 4×200 women’s free relays to bronze and silver medals respectively.

Drabot didn’t do a ton of racing during the 2020-2021 season, though she did compete at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials (Wave II) in June, which is the last meet she’s competed in. She made semifinals of the women’s 200 fly in Omaha, but finished 13th in semis, missing out on qualifying for the final. She was 20th in prelims of the women’s 100 fly, narrowly missing out on advancing to semifinals. Drabot was also entered in the 100 free but ended up DFS (declaring false start) on the race.