Abbey Weitzeil Has Eye on LA28 After Return: ‘We Can Be a Mom and Still Chase Our Dreams’
Abbey Weitzeil wasn’t sure how she would feel diving in for her first race in nearly 2 years.
The three-time Olympian was competing in her first race since getting married and giving birth after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Weitzeil participated in the Virginia Pro Am on Friday, Oct. 16, and it wasn’t anything like she expected.
“It felt so different. I feel like I have been relearning swimming in so many ways. I didn’t just have a kid, but I took almost 2 years off,” Abbey Weitzeil told Swimming World. “I haven’t felt like I used to in the water yet – and maybe I never will in the same way. I had that feeling after 20 years of swimming, that connectivity to the water, and I lost that a little bit. Every week I get better.”
Now, she feels a little more back into life as a pro swimmer, just with the one meet under her belt, going a 23.72 in the 50-meter free (SCM). The time was just about three tenths off of her best SCM time of 23.44.
“I had so much fun. I needed a qualifying time for U.S. Open, and I was going to go to a local club meet, but then I saw that meet and decided go to that. I got to see a lot of people and get good competition. I really didn’t have any time expectations,” Abbey Weitzeil said. “I just wanted to practice racing and get everything back. I had to remember what time I wanted to get to the pool. I had do remember how to do this. It was a great first meet back because there was a crowd and I knew Gretchen (Walsh) was going to go really fast next to me. It was short-course meters, so I literally didn’t know where the wall was because I haven’t swam that in so long. But it was a great swim.”
That is a far cry from where Weitzeil thought she would be in 2026.
“I thought I was retired. We literally moved cities because I thought I was retired,” she said. “I wanted to live life like I wasn’t swimming. I lived a completely different life. When I was pregnant, I felt like I wanted to go back. I didn’t know if it was the hormones or what. So, I was going to decide after I had Liam and I still wanted it.”
Weitzeil, a former NCAA-record-holder (20.90 SCY), lives in Charlotte, N.C., and trains with Queens University. She moved for husband Michael Jensen’s job in cyber security.
While Weitzeil didn’t get in the water regularly for a while after giving birth, she did a lot of dryland training.
“The focus was on the weight room,” Abbey Weitzeil said. “I am very strong on land and have been hitting PRs in the weight room. Now it is trying to translate that into the water.”
Easier said than done.
“I have been relearning everything,” she said. “I think that is going to be to my benefit because I have been able to relearn things properly, and rebuild my core properly. Your abs rip in half when you are pregnant and you have to form them back together properly.”
Then it was time to put all the pieces together on a new coast.
“Puzzle piece No. 1: I have a pool and a coach (Jeff Dugdale). Puzzle piece No. 2: I needed a weight coach. I found a PT to help me through postpartum. They work with a lot of NFL guys and knew Jed Hartigan, who specializes in speed and power. I have just made leaps working with him. All the puzzle pieces just kind of fell into place.”
Now, the three-time Olympic gold medalist is slowly testing thew waters of racing.
She will swim at the U.S. Open in December and then go to the Pro Series stops early next year, each leading to a bigger goal of 2028.
“I was not just going to come back to swim a few meets. I came back with a goal and I am going to put everything into it. Being a home Olympics, I am from Southern California. And I still don’t feel like I have reached my full potential in swimming,” Abbey Weitzeil said. “It is about being a year and a half to two years of getting ready for 2028. I think I am going to be faster than I have ever been. If I didn’t think that, I wouldn’t be doing this. I knew I would regret it if I didn’t try. That is exciting.”
Weitzeil was around at Cal when Dana Vollmer won Olympic gold as a mom and is hoping to inspire the next generation just as Vollmer inspired her.
“Dana Vollmer, Sarah Sjostrom, Dara Torres. They had babies and came back. When I saw Sarah do it, I had already started to think about it. There are a couple moms in track,” Abbey Weitzeil said. “It is becoming more common. There are more moms than there used to be. Dana and Dara were anomalies. Dana came back and set a world record and won a gold medal. That is crazy. Now it is becoming a little more normalized – and I use that word lightly.
“I hope I can be like them and be a role model and show women that they can do it. It is a special thing about women in sport. We can be a mom and still chase our dreams.”