Deep Dive With Ilona Maher

Ananya Panchal | Apr 30, 2025

Deep Dive with Ilona Maher /

Ilona Maher returns to SI Swimsuit for her second feature and first time gracing the fold. The Olympic rugby player starred on the cover of the September 2024 digital issue, and now she’s back, posing for Ben Watts in Bermuda for the 2025 issue. In this Deep Dive, presented by Coppertone, Maher shares everything from her pregame glam to the celebrity she‘d love to spend a day with. Watch to get to know the Vermont native in a new light!

TRANSCRIPT

Ilona: Hi I’m Ilona Maher shooting for SI. Welcome to my Deep Dive.

What celebrity would you want to hang out with?

IM: I’d love to hang out with Sabrina Carpenter.

What movie would you want to star in?

IM: I want to start in the next Wonder Woman. That just feels right.

Favorite pregame meal?

IM: Everyone always asks me this. I eat what’s free. I eat what people are setting out on the table. If it’s burgers, I’ll eat a burger. If we’re going out, I’ll get steak. Because I eat what I want when I want.

Do you bring your competitive nature to everything you do?

IM: I don't bring my competitive nature to everything I do, because then it would not be fun for anyone around me. So if I’m playing pickleball, whether I’m playing cards, I try to be chill.

What makes you unbeatable?

IM: I think I’m unbeatable because I truly am just myself at all times. And I think you can’t be taken down when you know so much who you are and you believe in who you are. You [can] try me, but that’s just what’s happening. In middle school basketball practice, my coach read a quote: respect all, fear none. I played some of the best players in the world, and I will always respect them, but I’ll never fear them.

What’s something new you did this year?

IM: I learned to dance, and dance, like, loosely, you know, I learned a few steps. That was really cool thing, I never thought I’d really do.

What‘s your lucky number?

IM: I love the number 32. I’ve worn that throughout my sporting career. Three for my sisters, two for my parents.

What is your pregame beauty routine?

IM: Pregame beauty routine: brows and mascara. But I love to put on my lipstick and just take on the game. I feel so pretty, even when I’m attacking people.

What‘s a moment in your career that you felt truly unstoppable?

IM: I feel the most unstoppable when I’m playing rugby and testing my body and seeing what it can do. Getting up on the podium with my team, after winning bronze, and raising our arms in the air, we just felt like, man, we did this. We truly cannot be stopped.

What advice would you give your younger self?

IM: I always say I wouldn’t tell her anything. Everything she did has led me to where I am today, all the mistakes she made, all the struggles she went through, though they were hard for her, she battled through them and got me here. So, I would just be like, across the street, like, good job, sweetie, and I don’t even want her to know it’s me.

What do you hope people take away from your photos?

IM: I hope people see my photos and understand that strength can be so beautiful and so feminine. And there’s so many different body types, and all are really made for the swimsuit.

How do you define unbeatable performance?

IM: I think unbeatable performance isn’t like winning every game and nobody can stop you. It’s knowing that no matter what happens, you’re gonna keep going. You could be down 30 to none, and you're gonna keep trying to score. You’re gonna keep running as hard as you can. I think it’s like a mindset. Unbeatable people continue to give their all.

IM: This is me signing off with my second shoot with SI Swim. You guys are gonna really, really love these. You guys are gonna flip.