Mack Horton Retirement: Did 17 Months of Being Shy of a Medal Lead To an Early Exit?

On the brink of the Australian trial for the Paris Olympics, Mack Horton announced his disconcerting retirement from the sport. It wasn’t a similar case as the swimming world saw in Brennan Gravley taking retirement a few days ago. Rather, the 27-year-old Australian swimmer held lots of gusto for his swimming career, which spanned almost 13 years. That unmatched element gave Mack Horton mythical success and glorified days that saw him claiming an Olympic gold. So, expectedly, his dissimilar exit just before the Olympic trial on his home turf raised a notion of an argument. 

Circumstances accounted for, fans are left with an unsavory taste in their mouth, and it’s not due to the chlorine concentration in the water. What might have prompted Horton to make this leap so prematurely?

The Mack Horton way of handling a career 

For Mack Horton, his pinnacle of success came in the 400m free event in the Rio Olympics. However, that last event had seen lots of fiascoes because of Horton’s staunch opposition against Sun Yang, the gold medalist in the event. But ultimately the vocal swimmer had received the gold medal when the Chinese swimmer had faltered in the way because of a doping issue. Since then, the former World Cup champion had regularly attempted the 400m free event in the domestic championships. But only a few could give him a taste of success. In the 2020 Olympics trial, Horton couldn’t qualify for the 400m free event. However, without being hampered by the defeats, in 2022 May, he had participated in the 400m free at the Australian Swimming Championships. At that moment, Horton had won silver in the event, with a bronze in the 200m free. On Australian soil, that was his last medal-earning frame giving him a berth in the upcoming mega championships. 

Among the mega championships, the World Aquatics Championships and the Commonwealth Games had come as scheduled. But only in the latter event, Mack Horton had his last individual medal in bronze (August 2022). However, in the same year, the World Short Course Championships had given him the 4x200m free relay gold. But the Australian freestyle pro couldn’t earn any individual medal, despite taking part in the 400m and 1500m free on the occasion. The 2023 occasion dipped the swimmer further. 

The lackluster 2023 

Even after a thorough quagmire in the 2022 season, Mack Horton could ask for a better turnout in the 2023 season for an upcoming World Championship. So, keeping that in mind, he took part in the Australian Swimming trials for berths in Fukuoka. But both of his 200m free and 400 m free timings couldn’t give him the qualification standard. Even in the 400m free final, the phenom was way behind Elijah Winnington, taking the third position. 

Read more: As Olympic Trials Approach, Bulldog Swimmer Aims to Emulate Chase Kalisz’s Success

After that, there wasn’t much left to offer from Mack Horton’s side. On that estimate, January 21 witnessed him saying goodbye to the sport. Will there be a change of heart from Horton? Maybe, but a possible resurgence might be in the offing, let’s see what’s in store for him.

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