Paris Olympics 2024: Gretchen Walsh breaks 100m butterfly world record at U.S. swimming trials
US swimmer Gretchen Walsh (Source: @USASwimming)
American swimmer Gretchen Walsh has broken the 100-metre butterfly world record at the U.S. Olympic trials semifinals on Saturday (June 15) ahead of the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024.
Walsh recorded a time of 55.18 seconds, going past Swedish Sarah Sjöström’s 55.48 seconds world record from Rio Olympics 2016.
“I've spent a lot of training focusing on the 100 fly specifically,” she said on Saturday.
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“So, to have it translate into the real pool, some would say, really goes to show that [training] is paying off,” Walsh added.
According to news outlet NBC, this is also the first time a world record has been broken at the U.S. Olympic trials since legendary Michael Phelps set new record for 200 metre individual medley back in 2008.
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“I did not know that I was gonna go 55.1 and break the world record,” Walsh said. “It doesn't feel real.”
Walsh is a junior at university of Virginia where she rose to fame with her performance but the pools were 25-yard long compared to internationally accepted 50-yard.
Walsh had acknowledged in November last year that "everyone always says I’m just a bathtub swimmer.”
On Saturday, she conceded that 50-yard pools are a 'different beast for her.'
The swimmer, however, said last month that the university training program was 'flipped on its head' after the NCAA Championship and that the new regimen was “a little scary for me at first because I really do just rely on my underwaters when I do short-course."
"I feel like I've definitely improved with my actual swimming,” she said after breaking the world record on Saturday.
Walsh will now compete for a place in the Paris Olympic team during the U.S. trial's 100m butterfly final against previous American record holder Torri Huske and 2021 Olympic medalist Regan Smith. Only two of the three can make the team for the upcoming Olympics.
