Mallory Swanson's return to international competition has been a godsend for the U.S. women's national team in the 2024 Paris Games, bagging three goals in her first two appearances to spearhead Emma Hayes' explosive side.
She's providing just the sort of performances Hayes and her coaching staff have needed.
With Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe — two of the team's most prominent attacking figures in the 2021 Games — off the roster, the likes of Swanson, Sophia Smith, and Trinity Rodman have been called upon to exert their will on opposition defenses with regularity.
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That trio has done just that in the attacking third. Swanson, in many ways, serves as the centerpiece, marauding down the left flank with vigor. Her speed, agility, and close control have been foundational pieces as Hayes attempts to craft a tactical vision all her own in this year's Olympics.
It wasn't always that way for Swanson, who just one year ago was on the outside looking in on the national team setup. Her absence from the 2023 World Cup wasn't due to a lack of production, as she was the U.S.'s leading scorer despite playing in far fewer games than her counterparts.
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Rather, Swanson was kept out of the tourney due to injury. The 26-year-old suffered a patella tendon tear in a USWNT friendly, bringing her season to a close in April 2023.
Swanson has taken a long road back to reestablish herself as one of the country's best attackers. Here's a look at how she did it.
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Mallory Swanson injury timeline
Swanson was stretchered off the pitch after fending off a slide tackle in a friendly match between the United States and Ireland last April. She immediately knew something was up, taking hold of her left knee and gesturing towards the team's medical staff to come examine her wounds.
Shortly thereafter, USWNT revealed the nature of Swanson's ailment. She had suffered a torn patella tendon in her left knee, ruling her out for the Women's World Cup, which ended up taking place in July that year.
The injury proved a tricky one for Swanson to recover from. In addition to her tendon, which had "completely ruptured", Swanson's kneecap also went in her thigh, nearly dislocating the bone in the process. If not for the speedy action of USWNT's medical staff, the injury could have been much worse.
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Swanson initially hoped to make a shocking return to the squad in time for the Women's World Cup, undergoing surgery to repair the patella tendon shortly after the injury.
"Honestly, there was a good time where I was like 'I'm going to make it in time,'" Swanson told The Sporting News' Kyle Bonn.
"Realistically, anyone can go on Google and look up the recovery time for my injury, and it didn't really correlate [with my expectations], but I was like 'I'm gonna do it.'"
A sepsis infection put a swift end to those desires, however.
“It was really bad," Swanson said on The Women's Game podcast, per Just Women's Sports. "They had to do basically an emergency surgery to try and get this infection out because it was starting to — I don’t want to say it was starting to take over my body — but I was very, very ill.”
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The infection lingered for much longer than Swanson had expected. She was fed a steady diet of antibiotics throughout the ordeal.
“I was so sick. I was on IV antibiotics for like six weeks,” Swanson said. “I had a PICC line in. It was awful. It was like literally the worst thing ever, but we made it through."
Make it through Swanson did. It wasn't easy; Swanson's mental health wavered at times during her spell on the sidelines.
Nevertheless, her target was a simple one: to make it back onto the field. In 2024, she's done just that.
Swanson returned to club side Chicago's starting lineup in March. She netted her first NWSL goal in April and was named to the U.S.'s roster for the SheBelieves Cup later that month.
In June, she returned to the scoresheet in the red, white, and blue, bagging a brace in a friendly against South Korea. Now in Paris, Swanson has been wondrous, recording three goals to lead the Americans to an unbeaten record in their opening two games.
"To be a part of this group and have all these girls and coaches and staff around me, supporting me and just to be able to support each other to try to achieve something — I'm just super grateful now," Swanson said prior to USWNT's matchup with Germany, per Fox Sports.
