Dana Vollmer wanted to dive in and enjoy the water at a swim meet one last time. The 2012 Olympic 100m butterfly champion retired following her first-round heat at the U.S. Championships in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday.
Vollmer, who came back from childbirth to earn a medal of every color in Rio, announced on Monday that this week’s nationals would be her last meet at age 31. She clocked 59.94 seconds to place 32nd after missing training time this season with a shoulder injury.
“I’m at peace,” said Vollmer, who had her second son, Ryker, on July 4, 2017. “To walk up behind the blocks and remember the nerves in my stomach and how I shake out and getting on the blocks, just knowing it’s your last one, getting to absorb all of that, it’s a really special moment.”
Vollmer made a career of overcoming obstacles, from heart surgery before making her first Olympic team at age 16 to missing the 2008 Olympic team to becoming the first U.S. mom to earn an Olympic swimming gold medal in Rio.
“I’ve searched a lot of different areas, and I’m really satisfied with what I’ve done in the sport,” she said. “USA Swimming is so incredibly competitive to get on the team. I mean, you have to want it with your entire heart, and I kept finding that I wanted to be doing other things.”
MORE: U.S. Swimming Champs TV Schedule
In other events Friday, Maxime Rooney made waves in the morning heats by becoming the second-fastest 100m butterflier in the world this year.
His 50.68 would have earned silver behind world-record breaker Caeleb Dressel at last week’s world championships. Rooney went .41 slower in the evening final but still won by .61 over Olympian Jack Conger.
Dressel, originally entered in this meet after an exhausting, six-gold-medal worlds, scratched for a third straight day.
Olympian Kelsi Dahlia earned the women’s 100m fly title in 57.35, which was .24 slower than her sixth-place time from worlds.
Emma Weyant, 17, chopped 5.17 seconds off her personal best to win the 400m individual medley in 4:35.47, making her the world’s fifth-fastest woman and the fastest U.S. woman this year. The U.S. has an opening in the event after missing the medals at the last two worlds.
Bobby Finke overtook 17-year-old Carson Foster to earn the men’s 400m IM, two days after he won the 1500m freestyle. Finke, 19, clocked a personal-best 4:13.15, which would have placed fourth at worlds. The field lacked Olympic silver medalist Chase Kalisz and world silver medalist Jay Litherland.
MORE: Ryan Lochte, after rehab for alcohol addiction, says he’s a better man
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!
Follow @nbcolympictalk
