Commonwealth Games champion Alys Thomas retired from swimming due to a wrist injury

The former Commonwealth Games gold medalist Alys Thomas has announced her retirement from swimming due to a wrist injury. Alys Thomas won gold in the 200m butterfly for Wales in 2018 on the Gold Coast, setting a new games record, and has two European bronze medals for Great Britain at the championships in Glasgow later that year.

She reached the final of the women’s 200m butterfly at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she finished seventh.

“Unfortunately, my time in swimming as an elite athlete has to come to an end. What started out as a simple cartilage injury in 2010 has now reached the point where my management strategies are very limited and basically I can’t go on loading that joint anymore”, said Alys Thomas. “I’m feeling a bit sad, that’s the main emotion I’m going through right now. I’ve had a nice break over the last two months but within that, I had a specialist consultant appointment about a long-term wrist injury that I’ve been managing over the last 12 years. I was told that my time in elite sport should come to an end, unfortunately”, added she.

Alys Thomas competed in the women’s 100m butterfly event at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships. She also won two bronze medals at the 2018 European Championships. Among her awards is also the bronze from the 2018 Gold Coast at 4x100m medley.