2012 Manuel swam at the
2012 United States Olympic Trials, placing 20th in the 50-meter freestyle and 17th in the 100-meter freestyle events. The following month, as a 16-year-old at the
2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, held at the
Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in
Honolulu, she won gold medals in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 54.80 seconds, the 4×100-meter freestyle relay where she set a Championships record of 54.60 on the first leg of the relay, the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, the 4×100-meter medley relay, placed fourth in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 25.45 seconds, and won the B-final of the 200-meter freestyle with a 2:00.32.
2013 2013 National Championships She competed at the 2013 US National Championships, where she finished third in the 100-meter freestyle and second in the 50-meter freestyle events.
2013 World Championships She qualified for the
2013 World Aquatics Championships in
Barcelona, and she won a gold medal in the preliminary for the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.
2013 Duel in the Pool She also competed in the 2013
Duel in the Pool, where she won first in the 100-meter freestyle, third in the 50-meter freestyle, second in the 400-meter freestyle relay, and first in the 200-meter mixed medley relay. She also placed second in the 200-yard freestyle event. Manuel is the first African-American woman to win a gold medal in an individual swimming event and is also said to be the first
black woman to achieve this. She later won silver in the 50-meter freestyle event and gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay.
2017 World Championships At the
2017 US Nationals, the qualification meet for the
World Championships in
Budapest, Manuel won the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 24.27 and touched second in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 53.05. On the first day of the World Championships, Manuel anchored the
women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay to a gold medal alongside
Mallory Comerford,
Kelsi Worrell, and Ledecky. She split a very fast 52.14 to anchor the team to a new
American record time of 3:31.72. Manuel picked up her second gold of the meet when she anchored the
mixed 4×100-meter medley relay with a split of 52.17. Together with
Matt Grevers,
Lilly King, and
Caeleb Dressel, the team broke the world record in a time of 3:38.56. Manuel's first individual event of the meet was the 100-meter freestyle, where Swedish swimmer
Sarah Sjöström was widely considered the favorite to win since she had broken the world record while leading off the 4×100-meter freestyle relay on the first night of the World Championships. In similar fashion to the previous summer at the Olympics, Manuel upset the favorite by coming from behind to win the
100-meter freestyle with an American record time of 52.27, out touching Sjöström by just four-hundredths of a second. The day after, she won her fourth gold medal in the
mixed 4×00-meter freestyle relay, where she split 52.18 on the anchoring leg. Alongside Comerford, Dressel, and
Nathan Adrian, they set a world record of 3:19.60. On the last night of the meet, Manuel swam the finals of both the 50-meter freestyle and the women's 4×100-meter medley relay. Touching in a bronze-winning time of 23.97, she set the American record and became the first American woman to break the 24-second barrier in the
50-meter freestyle. Manuel then anchored the women's 4×100-meter medley relay to a winning time of 3:51.55. The team of
Kathleen Baker, King, Worrell, and Manuel broke the 2012 world record of 3:52.05 set by
Missy Franklin,
Rebecca Soni,
Dana Vollmer, and
Allison Schmitt.
2019 World Championships At the
2019 World Aquatics Championships in
Gwangju,
South Korea in July 2019, Manuel became the first female American swimmer to win both the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle events at a single
FINA long course World Aquatics Championships meet. Manuel won a total of seven medals, four gold and three silver medals, at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. This was most won by any female in the sport of swimming at a single
FINA World Aquatics Championships series meet conducted in long course meters. Manuel's accomplishments were highlighted by
USA Swimming and she was the recipient of the 2019 "Female Athlete of the Year" award at the
2019 Golden Goggles Awards.
2021 2020 US Olympic Trials At the
2020 USA Swimming Olympic Trials, postponed to June 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Manuel competed in the 100-meter freestyle and the 50-meter freestyle. In the 100-meter freestyle, she ranked 9th in the semifinals and did not qualify for the final. In the 50-meter freestyle, Manuel ranked first in the final with a time of 24.29,
qualifying for the
US Olympic swim team in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
2020 Summer Olympics The
2020 Summer Olympics in
Tokyo, Japan were the second
Olympic Games Manuel qualified to compete in. She was selected as one of three first time captains,
Allison Schmitt was selected as the only second time captain, along with
Ryan Murphy and
Caeleb Dressel for the USA Olympic swim team. While Manuel did not qualify to swim in the
4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 2020 US Olympic Trials, Team USA coach
Greg Meehan decided to put her on the relay in the finals of the event at the 2020 Olympic Games in place of some of the relay-only swimmers who qualified at the US Olympic Trials and had already swum in the prelims. Manuel was entered as the anchor, fourth, swimmer for the relay. In the final, Manuel helped the relay finish in third place with a time of 3:32.81 and won her first
medal of the 2020 Olympics, a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. On day seven of competition, Manuel swam a 24.65 in the prelims heats of the
50-meter freestyle and advanced to the semifinals ranked 11th overall. On day eight, in the semifinals of the 50-meter freestyle, Manuel finished with a time of 24.63, ranked 11th overall, and did not advance to the final of the event.
Sponsorships Manuel turned to full-time
professional swimming in July 2018, forgoing her final collegiate season with Stanford. On July 24, 2018, she signed with
TYR Sport, Inc., joining former Stanford teammates
Katie Ledecky and
Lia Neal. Another one of Manuel's sponsors during the
2020 Summer Olympics was automotive manufacturer
Toyota. == Activism and outreach ==