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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living

Sec. Women in Sport

Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1665212

This article is part of the Research TopicBridging the Knowledge Gap: Enhancing Research on Women's Participation in SportsView all 8 articles

Exploring the postpartum return to sport and performance in Canadian elite athletes

Provisionally accepted
Chloe  HewittChloe Hewitt1*M Karen  CampbellM Karen Campbell1,2Yun-Hee  ChoiYun-Hee Choi1Jane  S ThorntonJane S Thornton1,3,4
  • 1Western University Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, London, Canada
  • 2Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Canada
  • 3Western University School of Kinesiology, London, Canada
  • 4International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Background: Athlete-mothers in elite sport were viewed as anomalies until very recently. Perhaps as a consequence of limited research, support and resources available for pregnant and postpartum athletes may be inadequate. Objective: To explore the experiences of athletes returning to sport and performance postpartum. Methods: Ten elite Canadian athletes who became pregnant during their sporting career and attempted to return to competitive sport after childbirth completed an online questionnaire. Results: Most participants reported that timing of conception was planned around competition schedule. During pregnancy, most athletes trained through pregnancy, but found the advice they received unsatisfactory. Lack of support for childcare within sport and balancing breastfeeding with training were commonly identified challenges. Nine of the 10 athletes reported resuming training after childbirth and five returned to competitive sport, of which four reported improved performance. Conclusion: Elite athletes in our sample were able to return to a high level of sport after childbirth, however many expressed the need for improved support through pregnancy and the postpartum period. This exploratory study reveals promising findings of how experiences are improving for pregnant and postpartum elite athletes. This sets the stage for more research to promote sport participation by athlete mothers.

Keywords: Pregnancy, Postpartum, Athletes, performance, competition, return

Received: 13 Jul 2025; Accepted: 08 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Hewitt, Campbell, Choi and Thornton. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Chloe Hewitt, chewit3@uwo.ca

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