A Pediatric Surgeon Went Back to the Pool Near 40 — and Has Since Set 87 National Swimming Records
4 min read · RealCase summary
Ellen Reynolds, a pediatric surgeon in Boise, Idaho, swam growing up but stepped away during college and medical school, returning to competitive swimming at nearly 40. She trained for her first decade-plus back in the sport under her mother, Mary Ann Reynolds, and now trains remotely under coach Kristen Hill with training partner John Rubocki of Sawtooth Masters.
Over 20 years of Masters swimming with Team Redbird, she has set 87 USMS individual records and logged more than 300 Top 10 finishes nationally.
At the 2024 World Aquatics Masters Championship in Doha, Qatar, Reynolds, now 61, set records in five events for women aged 60-64: the 200m backstroke (2:30.58), 100m backstroke (1:10.22), 200m IM (2:34.27), 400m IM (5:30.07), and 200m breaststroke (3:00.11) — part of 26 AQUA Masters world records she set across the 2024-2025 season.
"I swim because I love to swim and be in the water," she said. "It was consistent, hard work and really focusing on technique and mindset." She will be inducted into the Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame (MISHOF) in May 2026.
Key takeaways
- ›Grew up a competitive age-group swimmer, then stopped entirely for college and medical school
- ›Returned to the pool near age 40 while working full-time as a pediatric surgeon
- ›Has set 87 USMS individual records and, in the 2024-2025 season alone, 26 individual AQUA Masters world records
Original source
Read the original (U.S. Masters Swimming)
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