Three-time individual NCAA Champion Brendan Burns has announced his retirement from competitive swimming. Burns spent his collegiate career with Indiana.
Burns finished up his career after swimming at US Olympic Trials last week. He finished 30th in the 200 free, 43rd in the 200 back, and 54th in the 100 fly.
Burns returned for his fifth year this past season with the Hoosiers and helped the program to another Big Ten team title as well as a 4th place team finish at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Burns was the team’s highest scoring swimmer at Big Tens with 91 individual points including Big Ten titles in the 100 back and 200 back. He also was the team’s highest scoring swimmer at NCAAs, scoring 43 points, including an NCAA title in the 100 back.
He is most famously known for swimming the “dirty-double, ” meaning he swam the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly on the same day at meets such as Big Tens and NCAAs. Burns finished 7th in the 200 back and 8th in the 200 fly at 2024 NCAAs.
His 2024 100 backstroke NCAA title was not his first time at the top of the podium at the NCAA level. Burns defended his title in the 100 backstroke after winning the event as a senior in 2023. He also finished 2nd in the 200 fly at NCAAs in the same season.
In 2022, his junior season, Burns won the NCAA title in the 200 fly and finished 2nd in the 100 backstroke. As a junior, Burns also swept his individual events at Big Tens, winning the 100 back, 200 back, and 200 fly while doing the “dirty double.”
Burns has been a consistent contributor to Indiana throughout all of his seasons with the Hoosiers. As a sophomore, he won Big Ten titles in the 200 back and 200 fly while finishing 2nd in the 100 fly. He went on to make the NCAA ‘A’ finals in the 100 back and 200 fly.
As a freshman during spring 2020, Burns won the Big Ten title in the 200 fly and was the #7 seed for 2020 NCAAs that were eventually canceled.
Upon his retirement, Burns will be working at a name, image, and likeness (NIL) firm.
