Three-time individual NCAA Champion Brendan Burns has announced his retirement from competitive swimming. Burns spent his collegiate career with Indiana.
Burns finished up his career after swimming at US Olympic Trials last week. He finished 30th in the 200 free, 43rd in the 200 back, and 54th in the 100 fly.
Burns returned for his fifth year this past season with the Hoosiers and helped the program to another Big Ten team title as well as a 4th place team finish at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Burns was the team’s highest scoring swimmer at Big Tens with 91 individual points including Big Ten titles in the 100 back and 200 back. He also was the team’s highest scoring swimmer at NCAAs, scoring 43 points, including an NCAA title in the 100 back.
He is most famously known for swimming the “dirty-double, ” meaning he swam the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly on the same day at meets such as Big Tens and NCAAs. Burns finished 7th in the 200 back and 8th in the 200 fly at 2024 NCAAs.
His 2024 100 backstroke NCAA title was not his first time at the top of the podium at the NCAA level. Burns defended his title in the 100 backstroke after winning the event as a senior in 2023. He also finished 2nd in the 200 fly at NCAAs in the same season.
In 2022, his junior season, Burns won the NCAA title in the 200 fly and finished 2nd in the 100 backstroke. As a junior, Burns also swept his individual events at Big Tens, winning the 100 back, 200 back, and 200 fly while doing the “dirty double.”
Burns has been a consistent contributor to Indiana throughout all of his seasons with the Hoosiers. As a sophomore, he won Big Ten titles in the 200 back and 200 fly while finishing 2nd in the 100 fly. He went on to make the NCAA ‘A’ finals in the 100 back and 200 fly.
As a freshman during spring 2020, Burns won the Big Ten title in the 200 fly and was the #7 seed for 2020 NCAAs that were eventually canceled.
Upon his retirement, Burns will be working at a name, image, and likeness (NIL) firm.
What a short course career. I always felt like he was underrated despite his multiple (now three!!) individual NCAA titles. Wishing him the best!
Swimswam, can you write an article on lowest trials placement by an NCAA champion in a trials meet immediately following the short course season? Thanks.
When I was on campus when Brendan came to IU before 2020. I saw a leader. And after graduating and watching the effects on IU that Brendan had as a leader in and out of the water, I can say few had the effect he had at IU. Congrats Brendan, love the outside smoke, looking forward to seeing future accomplishments.
His interview after NCAAs was a great showing of his maturation into team leader, IU ambassador, and ready for next steps in life. Very solid swimming career will be followed by another promising one in any field he chooses. IU in great position to continue success thanks to Brendan.
I think that 100 back win was out of lane 1 and that was filthy. Congrats on a great career.
How can this guy be such a beast at NCAAs but an absolute nothing at Olympic Trials?
Dirty Undies
Short course strokes = highly technical
Long course strokes = endurance matters more than tech skills.
Wrong. Need efficient technique + endurance for long course. Inefficient swimmers with strength can muscle their way through short course and more walls = less swimming.
Short course is more so skill-based than technique-based. Swimmers with great starts and underwater kicking (more conventionally “athletic” types) tend to excel in SC, while swimmers with great technical swimming tend to excel in LC.
Just curious, how many events did you swim at Trials?
Absolute BEST turns you’ll ever see. Just fewer turns in 50m pool.
Congrats on a stellar career. Enjoyed your commentary on this week’s podcast.
He should do something in sports broadcasting (ideally swimming). Brendan was great on the recent swimswam breakdown – poised, insightful, knowledgeable, and a nice peppering of humor!