In an Instagram submit right this moment, 23-year-old Olympic finalist Jordan Crooks introduced that he is taking a break from aggressive swimming.
He wrote, “Thank you to the Cayman Islands, the College of Tennessee, household, and mates who’ve supported this swimming journey. For now, I’ll be stepping away from competing. Wanting ahead to exploring all that life has to provide. Until we meet once more.”
In an interview with SwimSwam in early April, Crooks alluded to this break however stopped quick of calling it a retirement, saying, “For now, I’m simply going to take a step again and focus on college and simply reside in the NARP (non-athletic common individual) life and loosen up for a little bit. Get the physique and the thoughts proper, and we’ll see what the future holds. No concept what it does maintain for now, however simply sort of having fun with basking in what we’ve been in a position to accomplish this 12 months and being tremendous grateful for our 4 years at Tennessee. Wouldn’t have wished to do it anyplace else, and we’ll see the place life takes me quickly.”
When we requested if he would proceed swimming and probably pursue one other Olympic Video games, he stated, “That’s a million-greenback query that we’re nonetheless attempting to determine out, however we’ll see. We’ll see the place it goes. You can by no means rule it out, and I’m not 100% positive what we’ll do, however I’ll be right here in Knoxville for the future, simply sort of figuring issues out one day at a time. However for now, again to the college grind.”
Crooks had an wonderful sign-off to collegiate swimming at the latest NCAA Championships. He reclaimed the NCAA title within the 50 freestyle with a time of 17.91, then improved his lifetime finest to 17.82 whereas main off Tennessee’s victorious 200 free relay, constructing on their NCAA record-setting efficiency from the earlier month on the SEC Championships.
His 17.82 was the remaining 50 free of his faculty profession, including one extra sub-18 second swim to his document of six occasions breaking the barrier, the most in historical past. The solely different swimmer to come shut is Caeleb Dressel, who holds the all-time document of 17.63, having damaged 18 seconds twice.
After a sixth–place end in the 200 free, Crooks exploded throughout the prelims of the 100. He broke Dressel’s 2018 document of 39.90, swimming a 39.83 and changing into the second man to go sub-40. In the finals, Crooks posted 40.06 and took 2nd to rival Josh Liendo’s personal sub-40 second swim (39.99). Crooks additionally threw down the quickest relay cut up in historical past (39.36) in the final swim of his faculty profession, anchoring Tennessee to an NCAA document and the crew’s second relay title of the meet.
The Matt Kredich-trained sprinter made historical past at the 2024 Brief Course World Championships, changing into the first man to break the 20-second barrier in the 50 SCM free (19.90)—a feat many of the largest sprinters in the sport’s historical past got here up simply quick of reaching. It was a legendary swim from Crooks in the Budapest semifinals as he lowered the 20.08 world document he set in prelims. The subsequent night, he defended his world title with a time of 20.19, including a second medal to his haul after taking bronze in the 100 free.
