Hunter Armstrong Retires for ‘New Chapter’ of Racing
American Olympian Hunter Armstrong on Thursday announced he is saying goodbye to professional swimming for, “a new chapter” in which he will continue racing.
Armstrong competed in the first Enhanced Games, but with the have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too stance of not partaking in performance-enhancing drugs. He said it was to preserve his eligibility for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. At least part of that plan has changed.
Armstrong posted the message on social media, thanking USA Swimming and World Aquatics.
He wrote, in part:
“I’ve been incredibly fortunate to accomplish everything I hoped to in this chapter of my career, and because of that, I know it’s time to turn the page.
“This isn’t goodbye to swimming. I’ll continue racing, but my focus is shifting as I begin a new chapter.”
Armstrong, 25, is a native of Dover, Ohio. A late bloomer in college after committing full-time to swimming late, he swam at West Virginia and then Ohio State University before training at the University of California as a post-grad.
Armstrong made the Olympics in the 100 back in 2021. He finished ninth in the event but won gold for swimming the backstroke leg in prelims, the Americans barely scraping into the final in seventh.
In Paris three years later, he was 11th in the 100 back. He was a last-minute sub onto the 400 free relay that won gold, then swam backstroke in prelims of the medley relay before anchoring in freestyle as the U.S. won silver.
In between, Armstrong won seven gold medals and 15 total medals at the three long-course World Championships between those two games. That included gold in the 50 backstroke in Fukuoka in 2023, gold in the 100 back in Doha in 2024 and silver in the 50 back in both Doha and Budapest in 2022.
The inclusion of the 50-meter strokes for the Los Angeles Olympics seemed to give a swimmer like Armstrong something to shoot for, as he’d been the world-record holder in the 50 back in 2022. But Armstrong has apparently selected a different path.
