Canadian Olympic swimmer Kelsey Wog has introduced her retirement from aggressive swimming at 25 years outdated.
Wog received various worldwide medals whereas representing Canada, together with a person silver within the 200 breaststroke on the 2016 Brief Course World Championships, and raced in a pair of Olympic Video games for her dwelling nation.
The information was beforehand reported in an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press after her final swim in Paris, however Wog affirmed the information on Tuesday in an Instagram publish.
The publish reads in full:
The top of an unforgettable period.
I’m so grateful for every little thing this sport has given me, the buddies, the teachings, the experiences, and what it appears like to really discover a ardour.
I’m stepping away from this sport feeling nothing however pleasure and peace.
Thanks all for every little thing, it’s been a privilege.
Wog was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, however grew up largely in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the place she skilled with the College of Manitoba Bisons swim staff from a younger age earlier than finally matriculating to their varsity squad.
Her worldwide breakthrough got here on the 2014 Youth Olympic Video games and 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships. On the Youth Olympics, she completed sixth within the 200 breaststroke amongst 4 particular person entries: an occasion that might finally grow to be her major race.
Per week later she received bronze as a part of Canada’s 400 medley relay at Junior Pan Pacs, and two years later on the 2016 version of Junior Pan Pacs she received silver within the 200 breast, silver on the medley relay, and bronze within the 100 breast.
That very same 12 months, she received her largest senior worldwide medal, taking silver within the 200 breaststroke on the World Brief Course Championships.
After starting her faculty profession, she swam on the profitable Canadian 400 free relay on the 2017 World College Video games and within the 2019-2020 season was named the U Sports activities Feminine Athlete of the Yr as Canada’s prime feminine collegiate athlete.
She received two extra worldwide medals in 2022, taking silver within the 800 free relay on the 2022 Brief Course World Championships and bronze within the 400 medley relay on the 2022 Lengthy Course World Championships, swimming prelims legs in each races.
Her final large worldwide medal got here in 2023 on the Pan American Video games, the place she received silver within the 200 breaststroke in 2:23.49. That put her a tenth behind her Canadian teammate Sydney Pickrem.
In two Olympic appearances, Wog was unable to match her finest instances and advance past the semi-finals. In Tokyo, she completed twenty third in prelims of the 100 breaststroke (1:07.73) and was disqualified within the semi-finals of the 200 breaststroke after a 2:24.27 for sixteenth place in prelims.
In Paris, she was thirteenth in semis of the 200 breaststroke in 2:24.82. Her time from the Pan American Video games earlier within the season would ahve certified her for the ultimate.
Wog retires with bests of 1:06.44 within the 100 breaststroke and a pair of:22.42 within the 200 breaststroke, each swum on the 2020 U Sports activities Championships simply earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down. These swims rank her 2nd and third all-time in Canadian historical past, respectively.
Her brief course better of 1:04.22 within the 100 breaststroke, achieved in December 2023, is the Canadian Report.
Wog confirmed off her talents each underwater and in versatility within the Worldwide Swimming League in 2019 and 2020. She completed twentieth within the MVP standings within the 2020 common season, second-best on the Toronto Titans behind solely Kylie Masse.
“I by no means, ever imagined in sport once I was seven years outdated, 10 years outdated, 15 years outdated, that I’d ever be at an Olympic Video games,” Wog advised the Winnipeg Free Press in the course of the Olympics. “Simply being right here is an achievement itself, and I’m pleased with how a lot I’ve grown as an individual due to sport.
“This final 12 months I actually targeted on doing every little thing I might, and simply actually having fun with the method and the journey of the game, and I actually suppose I did that to the perfect of my means,” Wog mentioned. “So I’m very happy with the place I completed and I absolutely imagine that I did every little thing I might.
“So, I really feel actually content material with what I’ve completed transferring by this 12 months,” she mentioned.
As Wog steps away from the game, she’s going to work on finishing a Grasp’s Diploma in Microbiology from the College of Manitoba, however says that she hopes to return to the game down the highway in some capability.
“I do wish to give again to the game in a roundabout way, form or kind,” she mentioned. “I simply haven’t fairly found out what that’s but.”
