World Record Holder Coleman Stewart Announces Retirement
World record holder Coleman Stewart has announced his retirement from swimming in a social media post on Tuesday.
Stewart set the world record in the 100-meter backstroke short-course as part of the International Swimming League. He had a stellar career at NC State but didn’t qualify for the Olympics in 2021.
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Stewart wrote in part that he will “continue to grow the sport from the other side of the deck now” and teased at big news coming soon.
Internationally, Stewart won bronze in the men’s 100 fly at the 2019 World University Games. He was also part of the American gold-medal winning medley relay there.
In the NCAA realm, he was a massive performer for NC State’s burgeoning powerhouse. He won the NCAA title in the men’s 100 back and 400 free relay in 2018. He is a 22-time All-American in a career that ended prematurely thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling what would’ve been his valedictory NCAAs in 2020 and a 13-time ACC champion, including three years of doing the 100 back-200 back double. He was the two-time ACC Men’s Swimmer of the Year and two-time ACC Championships MVP.
Stewart went on to swim with the Cali Condors in ISL. He set a world record of 48.33 seconds in Naples in 2021 in the 100 back. He had earlier broken the American record in that event at 48.91 seconds. He was also part of a Condors 400 medley relay that set the American record in the event.
At Trials in 2021, he came agonizingly close to an Olympic spot. After finishing a disappointing 10th in the 100 back, he was eighth in the 100 free and fourth in the 100 fly. He finished no better than sixth in any event at International Team Trials in 2022. He was controversially left off the American squad for the 2022 World Short-Course Championships in December.