Ilona Maher Was Gilded and Glowing on the Set of Her SI Swimsuit Debut

The rugby athlete posed for her first brand feature in Bellport, N.Y.

Ilona Maher was photographed by Ben Watts in Bellport, New York / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Over the past few months, we—like everyone else—have been keeping close tabs on Ilona Maher’s movements. In August, she helped the U.S. women’s rugby sevens team to their first podium finish in program history. Thanks, in part, to her skill on the pitch (and that of every other member of the team), the squad won a bronze medal for Team USA.

From there, she flew straight to New York, where she posed for her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut. She was the brand’s second digital cover model in history. For the feature, she traveled to Bellport, N.Y., a small coastal town in Long Island, where she was photographed by Ben Watts.

She didn’t stop there, either. Soon after, she touched down in Los Angeles, where she would spend the next several months competing for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy on Season 33 of Dancing with the Stars. With a second-place finish and a lifelong friendship with professional dance partner Alan Bersten secured, she set off for England, where she will spend the next several months training and competing with the Bristol Bears of the Premiership Rugby league.

Through it all, she’s been cultivating a quickly growing social media following. In other words, she’s been keeping busy. Yes, she’s a professional athlete, but she’s more than that, too. And, to some extent, she feels compelled to be more. Unlike male rugby athletes, female rugby players don’t earn enough money to live off of. “[Men] get to play rugby and they get paid millions of dollars while we make minimum wage and this won't be a career for us,” Maher told the team on the SI Swimsuit set. “I have teammates going into the workforce now, whereas these guys are down there and rugby’s it [for them].”

Maher’s social media presence is dedicated first and foremost to inspiring body positivity and confidence in her following. Beyond that, she has positioned herself as an advocate for female athletes. She understands firsthand the financial challenges facing athletes across female sports. With that in mind, she’s trying to bring greater visibility to her sport—to encourage both spectatorship and the future generation of rugby athletes.

All of which is to say, she’s an impressive force on and off the pitch. That includes, of course, on the beaches of New York, where she posed for her SI Swimsuit debut. Here are a couple of incredible outtakes.

Ilona Maher was photographed by Ben Watts in Bellport, New York. Swimsuit by Haus of Pink Lemonaid. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ilona Maher was photographed by Ben Watts in Bellport, New York. Swimsuit by Ralph Lauren. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated