University of Virginia senior Gretchen Walsh broke two individual world records Tuesday at a swim meet in Budapest, Hungary, and teamed up with alumnus Kate Douglas as part of a relay team to break another world record. has been updated. All took place on the first day of competition.
Walsh, who will compete in the 2024 World Aquatics 25M Championships, broke the 50m butterfly record in the qualifying race and broke it again in the semi-finals. That record stood for 15 years. Walsh swam the 50m butterfly in under 24 seconds, becoming the first woman to finish in 23.94 seconds.
Douglas set a world record in the 200m individual medley with a time of 2 minutes, 1.63 seconds. Walsh and Douglas, along with Kathryn Berkoff and Alex Shackel, earned a new world record in the 4×100 freestyle relay with a time of 3:25.01.
This week, seven current and former Wahoo swimmers will compete in the Short Channel Championships, held in a 25-meter pool, half the length of an Olympic-sized pool.
