What does Penny Oleksiak's withdrawal mean for Canada's relay chances at swim world championships?

Less than a month ago, just days before her 25th birthday, Canada's most decorated female Olympian stood on the pool deck of Commonwealth Place in Victoria with a smile stretching across her face.

Penny Oleksiak had just completed a successful national swimming trials, winning both the 50- and 100-metre freestyle events and being named to Canada's team for this month's world championships in Singapore.

Oleksiak beamed as she talked about her newfound love of swimming and how excited she was for all the racing she was about to do this summer.

"I actually want to be on the pool deck and in the water, race and be competitive and I'm having fun," she said in mid-June. "It feels so nice and it's showing in my times, my skin, it shows. I'm happy."

WATCH | What is a 'whereabouts' violation?

There was a sense from Swimming Canada officials, swimmers and fans alike who watched Oleksiak in and out of the pool throughout trials that this was a new athlete — focused, ready for this next chapter and embracing the challenge of finding peak form once again.

That all came crashing down last Friday when Oleksiak took to social media, posting on her own Instagram page that she was involved in a "whereabouts" case with World Aquatics and that she was withdrawing from the world championships.

"I want to emphasize that this whereabouts case does not involve any banned substance; it's about whether I updated my information correctly," Oleksiak wrote. "I am and always have been a clean athlete and will be making no further comment at this time."

Shortly after Oleksiak's post, Swimming Canada sent out its own statement.

"Swimming Canada is in full support of Penny's decision and we believe she is a clean athlete who made an administrative mistake. We wish her well and look forward to seeing her back in the pool," said Swimming Canada CEO Suzanne Paulins.

Athlete Whereabouts is part of the World Anti Doping Agency's (WADA) drug testing program. Selected athletes must provide a daily 60-minute availability window, 90 days in advance, to be tested, no matter where in the world they might be. If an athlete submits "late, inaccurate or incomplete whereabouts that lead to them being unavailable for testing, [they] may receive a Filing Failure," according to World Aquatics.

Any combination of three filing failures or missed tests within 12-months could result in a two-year ban.

In her statement Oleksiak said her situation involved whether or not she updated her information correctly. If she's worried, she's not showing it. On Sunday, she posted on her Instagram a picture of her on a beach with the caption: "All sunshine and smiles over here."

Canada's Ruslan Gaziev just returned from a Whereabouts ban that kept him out of competition for 18 months, including missing the Paris Olympics.

Oleksiak's case is still in the preliminary stages and there has been no determination of a ban or suspension.

But her voluntary withdrawal from the team is important.

Had Oleksiak continued to compete at the world championships and then receive a suspension or ban, it could have not only affected her personal results but also any relay she competed on — the Canadian relay teams could be disqualified had she competed and then been suspended.

That's significant because all of Oleksiak's nine world championship medals have been won on relays and she was sure to play a prominent role in relays in Singapore. It's likely Swimming Canada will not add any swimmers to the roster in the wake of Oleksiak's withdrawal from the team.

It also raises questions about Oleksiak's future in swimming, a career that has been somewhat turbulent since rising to superstardom at the 2016 Olympics in Rio when she was just 16 years old. Oleksiak captured gold, silver and two bronze medals at those Games, becoming the first Canadian ever to win four medals at a Summer Olympics.

Since then, she's acknowledged she has fallen in and out of love with the sport, even going so far as to tell CBC Sports in April 2024 she had been through "hell and back" since her first Games.

Over the past couple of years, however, Oleksiak has said she's rediscovered her connection to swimming, and rather than retirement, wants to compete at the L.A. 2028 Olympics.

Now that path to her fourth Olympics could include being out of the pool for a substantial amount of time.