Alex Morgan Couldn’t Contain Her Surprise When She Saw Her SI Swimsuit Cover

The retired soccer icon was shocked to discover she landed on the front of the 2019 magazine.

Alex Morgan was photographed by Ben Watts in St. Lucia. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

For retired athlete Alex Morgan, stepping onto the set of her SI Swimsuit photo shoot in 2019 wasn’t novel. She had been in that exact same position twice before.

But there were a few aspects that made the experience unique. For one, it took place in the Caribbean country of St. Lucia, a verdant, palm tree-ladened island destination. That year, the soccer player was also joined by fellow U.S. women’s national teammates Megan Rapinoe, Crystal Dunn and Abby Dahlkemper, each of whom participated in their own SI Swimsuit features. All four were en route to the 2019 FIFA World Cup in Paris, a competition that they would ultimately win in a 2-0 shutout against the Netherlands.

For Morgan, it was another meaningful notch on her résumé. “I feel ... empowered,” she said following the photo shoot, “because I feel like I’m alongside so many incredible women.” She applauded the fellow women who made up that year’s SI Swimsuit Issue for their abilities to be both “vulnerable” and “confident” at the same time.

It was in that same sit-down interview that another unique aspect of her 2019 photo shoot was revealed to her. Not only would she be featured within the pages of the annual magazine, but she would be featured on the cover, too. That much hadn’t been the case in her two previous features, and the news caught her by surprise.

When the interviewer flipped to the photo of Morgan on the cover (featuring a beautiful wind-swept snapshot of the iconic soccer player wearing a navy bikini), and the athlete saw herself surrounded by the SI Swimsuit logo, she couldn’t contain her shock.

As it turns out, the photo that would become the cover of the magazine was her “first shot of the day,” she revealed. “I was still getting the nerves out of me ... but this picture just shows how strong I am and how hard I’ve worked—not necessarily to like show off my body in any way. But I work every single day to compete on the highest stage in my sport.”

It was, in her own words, a testament to her “training and discipline and commitment and sacrifice,” and Morgan was “shaking” as she saw it for the first time. We don’t blame her, as it was both an incredible photo and a momentous moment.

But it wasn’t her only great photo from the day. Below are a couple others, in addition to the aforementioned cover snapshot.

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated