Katie Archibald Retires From Track Cycling To Pursue Nursing, Skipping Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Katie Archibald announced her retirement from track cycling, shifting focus to nursing and saying, “It’s simply time.”

““It’s simply time””

Olympics

The BBC reported the 32-year-old had been previously chosen for Scotland's 2026 Commonwealth Games team, but she said she had “fallen in love” with her new career as a nurse.

BBC

Archibald told British Cycling she was “too scared to leave the world I know and love,” but added, “But now is the right time simply because I’m not scared anymore.”

The Guardian said her decision meant she would not compete in July’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she had been selected as part of Team Scotland’s cycling squad.

In her retirement announcement, Archibald also said on Instagram, “I was desperate to make it to that start line, but my mind and body are saying no.”

Archibald leaves the Great Britain Cycling Team as a current world and European champion, and the BBC said she was “part of the women's team pursuit squad who hold the world record.”

The Independent described her as a triple Olympic medallist who amassed “a huge haul of 51 medals” across world, Olympic, European and Commonwealth level.

Cycling Weekly

In a statement carried by the Guardian, Archibald said: “The draw of the real world has been pulling me for a while, but I’ve been too scared to leave the world I know and love and, ultimately, to let go of something I’m good at.”

The Guardian also quoted her on nursing, saying, “I’ve fallen completely in love with the whole thing,” and added that she was retraining to be a nurse.

British Cycling performance director Stephen Park praised her as “relentless,” and said her “performances on track and habits and characteristics, off the bike, set the tone for the rest of the team.”

Archibald said her nursing training is not forcing her out of sport, telling Cyclingnews that “I really want to stress that the nursing training isn’t forcing me into retirement.”

“I really want to stress that the nursing training isn’t forcing me into retirement”

Cyclingnews

She also said she had “fallen completely in love with the whole thing,” and described stepping back from public attention as “For that reason, I’m keen to step back from what little part of the public eye I’m in.”

The BBC reported she paid tribute to her partner Rab Wardell, who died in 2022 aged 37 after a cardiac arrest, and she thanked “Rab, who taught me that very few things in life are more important than chilling out and having fun.”

The Independent said she began training as a nursing student in September last year, and described the vocation as one she had “fallen completely in love with.”

With her retirement, Archibald’s next chapter is explicitly tied to the “real world” she said had been pulling her for a while, as she told British Cycling: “It’s simply time.”