Shayna Jack To Retire Following 2026 Commonwealth Games

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Shayna Jack, one of many high feminine Australian sprinters for the higher a part of the previous decade, has introduced her retirement from aggressive swimming following the conclusion of the Commonwealth Games later this month.

Jack, 27, made the announcement on Instagram, doing so in an emotional one-on-one video alongside longtime coach Dean Boxall.

Jack says that she knew forward of time that when she was going to retire, she needed to do it alongside Boxall previous to the Commonwealth Games since they’ve ridden the highs and lows collectively since aligning in 2018.

“I wanted to bear my heart to Australia and to everyone I’ve represented over the years,” Jack stated of going out on her personal phrases on the Commonwealth Games.

“I want to go out there, head held high, proud of who I am, proud of who I’m representing, proud of what I’m saying goodbye to.”

Jack is coming off a powerful displaying on the Australian Swimming Trials in June, putting 2nd within the girls’s 50 free (24.37) and third within the 100 free (52.96) to earn a berth on the Commonwealth crew. She opted out of representing Australia at Pan Pacs, and we now know the explanation why.

The Brisbane native had a embellished junior profession on the worldwide stage, successful two gold and 9 complete medals between the 2013 and 2015 World Junior Championships whereas additionally claiming two gold and 4 complete medals on the 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships.

She made her senior worldwide debut on the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, successful three relay medals for the Aussies whereas additionally incomes a semi-final berth within the 50 free on the age of 18.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Jack led off the Australian girls’s 4×100 free relay that broke the world report in 3:30.05, and he or she additionally earned a pair of 4th-place finishes within the 50 and 100 free. She additionally contributed to the victorious Australian girls’s 4×100 free relay on the 2018 Pan Pacs.

That 12 months marked Jack’s first coaching underneath Boxall, however in 2019, her profession was turned on its head.

After qualifying for the 2019 World Championships, Jack examined optimistic for Ligandrol throughout an out-of-competition check. Jack maintained her innocence all through the method, which included an investigation by Australia’s anti-doping group, ASADA (now often called Sport Integrity Australia).

Initially receiving a four-year suspension from ASADA, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decreased Jack’s suspension down to 2 years in 2020, ruling that she didn’t deliberately take the substance.

After her suspension expired in July 2021, Sport Integrity Australia and the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed the CAS’ discount to her ban, but the CAS upheld its ruling that her ban had been served in full, allowing her to return to competition.

Jack returned to the worldwide stage in 2022, successful the primary lengthy course world title of her profession on the World Championships in Budapest within the girls’s 4×100 free relay whereas including a silver medal within the blended medley relay.

She additionally gained three medals on the 2022 Commonwealth Games, together with gold within the girls’s 4×100 free relay together with a person silver within the 100 free and a person bronze within the 50 free.

Jack then racked up 5 medals on the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, together with three relay golds and a person silver within the 50 free. In the ladies’s 4×100 free relay, Jack contributed a blistering 51.69 cut up because the Aussies broke their very own world report by almost two seconds in 3:27.96. She additionally set her 100 free lifetime better of 52.28 main off the relay within the prelims.

In 2024, after lacking out on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 whereas serving her suspension, Jack certified for her first Olympic crew on the Australian Trials, successful the 50 free in a lifetime better of 23.99 whereas putting 2nd within the 100 free.

At the Paris Olympics, Jack gained a pair of gold medals on the Australian girls’s 4×100 free and 4×200 free relays whereas putting fifth within the 100 free and eighth within the 50 free individually.

Earlier that 12 months, she added to her medal haul on the 2024 World Championships, piling up six medals together with gold within the girls’s 4×100 medley relay and a person bronze within the 100 free.

Jack missed out on qualifying for the Australian crew on the 2025 World Championships, putting fifth within the 100 free and eighth within the 100 free ultimately 12 months’s Aussie Trials, however rebounded to make the Commonwealth crew final month.

Now, she’ll exit on her personal phrases in Glasgow, with the swimming competitors on the Commonwealth Games scheduled to start on July 24 and wrap up on July 29.