The 34-year-old US marathon swimmer Ashley Twichell was ready to retire after a frustrating seventh place finish at the Tokyo Olympics.
A few months later she had her first son, Lochlan, and the end of her career looked certain. But she has gradually gone back to competition, and after a gold medal at the Pan American Games on Sunday the athlete from Fayetteville, New York, can see Paris a lot closer.
Twichell finished the 10-kilometer race in Santiago in 1 hour, 57 minutes, 16.4 seconds. Her rival and friend Ana Marcela Cunha of Brazil, gold medallist in Tokyo, ended 13 seconds behind. Another Brazilian, Viviane Jungblut, won the bronze medal. It was Twichell’s first international medal since her son was born in May 2022.
“I was pretty ready to be done after the games. I stayed in the water during pregnancy. And once I had my son, I really felt like I still needed something for myself. And so, I ended up getting back in the water in the mornings while my son was watching,” Twichell said after her victory.
“My husband and I just really took it day by day and found myself back to training.” Twichell’s family has travelled with her to competitions before, but they did not come to Santiago, where other athletes are competing after becoming mothers.
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