Canadian Olympic Finalist Rachel Nicol Retires From Competitive Swimming

Three-time World Championship medalist Rachel Nicol has announced her retirement via Instagram. Nicol, 30, has represented Canada on the international scene dating back to the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

“The end has come to 26 years of competitive swimming for me.” – Rachel Nicol, via Instagram

Rachel Nicol’s Instagram Retirement Announcement:

Nicol broke on to the world stage at the 2010 Youth Olympics, where she left the meet with three medals. She claimed gold in the individual 50 breaststroke, bronze in the 100 breast, and bronze in the 4×100 freestyle relay.

She collected her first senior international medals at the 2015 Pan American Games, which took place on home soil in Toronto. She bagged two medals there, a silver in the 4×100 medley relay and individual bronze in the 100 breast.

Additionally, Nicol has won three World Championship medals throughout her career. She collected her first medal at the 2016 Championships in Windsor, a silver in the 4×100 medley relay. She added a bronze medal in the same event at the 2022 Worlds in Melbourne. In conjunction with those two short course medals, she also has a long course bronze in the same relay from the 2022 World Championships in Budapest.

Nicol ended her career on a high note this past October, clocking 1:07.28 en route to 100 breast gold at the 2023 Pan American Games. Racing in the Chilean capital of Santiago, Nicol led a 1-2 finish with teammate Sophie Angus before helping Canada to gold in the 4×100 medley relay. Nicol split 1:07.14 on the winning relay, the fastest split in the field by a few tenths.

Nicol’s performance at the 2016 Rio Games is a clear career highlight, where she placed 5th in the final of the 100 breast. Her time of 1:06.68 still stands as her personal best time, and was a big jump from her 10th place finish in the event at the World Championships a year prior. Nicol also helped Team Canada to 5th in the final of the 4×100 medley relay, clocking 1:06.81 on the breaststroke leg.

With her career officially coming to a close, her best times in the 50 (30.49), 100 (1:06.68), and 200 (2:25.55) breaststroke make her one of the fastest and most consistent breaststrokers in Canadian history. She ranks as the 3rd fastest Canadian of all-time in the 50 breast, and 6th all-time in the 100. Her time of 30.49 in the 50 breast was another career highlight, as she recorded it in the semifinals of the 2017 World Championships. Her time snuck her into her first individual long course World Championship final, where she ultimately finished 8th.

Prior to many of her international accomplishments, Nicol swam four years in the NCAA for Southern Methodist University. She majored in Anthropology and graduated in 2015.