2024 SC Worlds Previews: In Crowded Women’s Butterfly Field, Gretchen Walsh Leads the Way

2024 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Despite the absence of defending Olympic Champion Torri Huske, the butterfly events at the 2024 SC World Championships are shaping up to be a great battle featuring some of the top athletes in the world, with the potential for several world records to fall. 

Women’s 50 Butterfly Preview

After nearly breaking the World Record during the 2024 World Cup series, American Kate Douglass was one of the favorites to win this event. However, with a loaded event schedule on her plate in Budapest, Douglass has decided to scratch from this event. In her place, the American team still has one of the best contenders in the field in her UVA teammate Gretchen Walsh. 

Gretchen Walsh (photo: Jack Spitser)

Walsh, who broke the World Record in the 100 butterfly in the long course pool over the summer, will be the one to take down. She’s known for her dominant front-end speed, with her 50 splits on the 100 fly almost approaching her best time on several occasions. Currently, she’s entered in this meet with a 25.20, her opening 50m time from her 100 butterfly at the 2024 US Olympic Trials. Plus, given that she showed no difficulty switching to the SCM pool earlier this season, breaking the 100 IM World Record at UVA’s dual meet against Florida, expect to see some sparks flying whenever Walsh enters the water. 

Behind Walsh, especially in the absence of Douglass, the podium looks fairly open, with several swimmers poised to make a push for it. France’s Beryl Gastaldello and Melanie Henique are two of the only returning finalists from 2022, where they finished 4th and 5th in the event. Primarily known as a sprinter, the 50 butterfly falls right into Gastadello’s range. Though she has never medaled in the event, she won SC Worlds medals in several other events and holds a gold medal from the 4×50 mixed freestyle relay back in 2022. With certified experience under her belt, she could make a push for her first individual gold here. Henique is a veteran on the World Championship stage, winning her first SC Worlds medal back in 2014. At the 2024 LC World Championship, she won the silver medal in this event, showing that she has plenty of potential. 

The other returning finalist is Maaike de Waard, who also has a long resume to boast. De Waard has been as fast as 25.26 this season, swimming that time back in October. That should throw her right into the mix, giving her another chance to get on to the podium. Louise Hansson is seeded right behind de Waard with a 25.28. The 100 butterfly is Hansson’s sweet spot, but she has shown promise in the shorter distance. Without a short course time this season, it is hard to predict where Hansson will be, but she should also find herself in the mix. 

Australia has a pair of swimmers in the race who are set to make an impact with the duo of Alexandria Perkins and Lily Price. Perkins made it to the semi-finals of this event back in 2022, ultimately placing 15th overall in a time of 25.60. However, her performances have improved a lot since then as she posted a best time of 24.99 earlier this season. Price has also seen great improvements, dropping a 25.07 at the end of October to establish her spot on the team. Both swimmers could be searching for their first individual World Championships medal. 

Russian swimmer Arina Surkova will contest the event as a neutral athlete. Due to World Aquatics’ ban on Russian participation, she hasn’t competed on the international stage since 2021. However, Surkova posted a 25.02 at the Russian Short Course Championships late last month, showing great form a few weeks out from Worlds.

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Women’s 100 Butterfly Preview

The 100 butterfly is another event that should be Gretchen Walsh’s for the taking. The current world record holder in the long course version of this event, Walsh finished 2nd to American teammate Torri Huske at the 2024 Olympic Games. With Huske pulling out of the meet, Walsh’s path is especially clear here. In fact, with her LCM entry time of 55.18, Walsh still leads the psych sheets by .2, indicating that she is simply miles ahead of the field. In addition, there are only 2 other Olympic finalists set to race: Japan’s Mizuki Hirai and Sweden’s Louise Hansson. 

The 17-year-old Hirai is in the midst of a breakout year that saw her break Claire Curzan’s World Junior Record in the 100m LC butterfly (56.33) and finish 7th at the Olympic Games. Over the past year, she’s dropped over 2 seconds off of her best time in the 100 butterfly in the long course pool, as her best time before that stood at 58.35. With such a rapid improvement curve, it would not be a surprise to see Hirari push for a spot on the podium and win her first World Championship medal. On the other end of the spectrum is the veteran Hansson, who has been on the scene for several years. Hansson has won a medal in this event at the past two editions of the SC World Championships, claiming silver in 2021 and bronze in 2022. She’s also the defending European Champion in this event, showing that she’s still at the top of her game. 

Regan Smith (photo: Jack Spitser)

Even with Hirai and Hansson in the field, Walsh’s biggest challenge will likely come from an opponent who didn’t even qualify to swim this race at the Olympics: American Regan Smith. In any other country, Smith’s time of 55.62 in the LC 100m butterfly would’ve been enough to earn an Olympic berth, and almost certainly win a gold medal. However, with the dominance of the American women in the event last season, she only placed 3rd in the event at the US Olympic Trials behind Walsh and Huske, failing to add the event to her schedule in Paris. Smith just wrapped up a fantastic stint on the World Cup circuit that saw her break the World Record in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. Due to her schedule during the series, she only contested the 100m butterfly once, swimming a 57.56 at the first stop of the series. However, she significantly improved her backstroke times throughout the World Cup as she gained confidence in the SCM pool, so it wouldn’t be outrageous to suggest she could drop some time here as well. Even with a loaded schedule in Budapest, expect her to be a serious contender. 

Finland’s Laura Lahtinen was one of the breakout stars of the 2024 World Cup circuit, posting consistent top 3 finishes in the butterfly events. In the 100 butterfly, she posted a best time of 55.58 at the series’ 1st stop in Shanghai, winning the event at both that stop and the following stop in Incheon. Throughout the series, she was extremely consistent with her performances, hitting :55 on all of her races, a sign that she could be in for a bigger time drop with a taper under her belt. Australian Lily Price was another strong performer on the World Cup circuit who could see some time drops here, she posted a 55.57 at the opening stop in Shanghai, sitting 4th on the psych sheets. Price’s teammate Alexandria Perkins is also right in the mix with the 3rd seeded time of 55.37. Perkins finished 6th in this race at the 2022 edition of this championship, posting a time of 56.34 in the final. 

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Women’s 200 Butterfly Preview

With the defending Olympic gold and silver medalists set to face-off, the 200 butterfly will be one of the most exciting races of the whole competition. 

American Regan Smith currently leads the field with an entry time of 2:01.85. As previously mentioned, Smith has been showing great form in the SCM pool, breaking World Records in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. However, she was not as consistent in this event at the World Cup, finishing 2nd in Incheon before not swimming the event in Singapore. Regardless, Smith has seen great improvement with her butterfly since moving to train under Bob Bowman, winning Olympic silver in the 200 butterfly over the summer, so she certainly remains a favorite here. 

Summer McIntosh (photo: Jack Spitser)

However, she’ll face extremely stiff competition with 4 other Olympic finalists in the field, including gold medalist Summer McIntosh. The young Canadian star has been rapidly on the rise over the past few years. Though McIntosh originally started out as a distance freestyler, she has since transitioned into the 200 butterfly and 400 IM, events which she has posted dominant performances in over the last 12 months, winning Olympic gold in both and breaking the world record in the 400 IM. McIntosh did not contest any of the stops of this year’s World Cup. However, she holds a lifetime best of 2:03.40 in the 200 fly SCM from 2022, a mark that is actually slower than the 2:03.03 she posted for the gold medal in Paris. That being said, expect her to demolish her personal best and go after Smith as the pair will likely be eying Mireia Belmonte Garcia’s World Record of 1:59.61. 

McIntosh won’t be the only young star in the field as newly minted World Junior Record holder Chen Luying of China and American Alex Shackell will also be swimming here. Back in September at the Chinese Short Course National Championships, Luying threw down a huge performance in the 200 butterfly, posting a 2:02.52 for the victory to break the WJR. With that time, she ranks second on the psych sheets, only behind Smith (though McIntosh is seeded with a LC time). If Luying can repeat that performance on the big stage, she’ll certainly have a shot at a medal and could even push Smith and McIntosh for the gold. Shackell is another swimmer who could throw down a major performance. The American made the final in this event at the Paris Olympic Games over the summer, finishing 6th overall. However, she hasn’t contested any short course competitions before, making it difficult to tell how she will adjust to the SCM pool. With a best time of 2:06.10 in the LCM edition of the race though, she should be in a good position to vie for a medal as well. 

Elizabeth Dekkers, Helena Rosendahl Bach, and Laura Lahtinen are all also seeded highly here and made the final of this event back in 2022, with Dekkers taking home the bronze at that meet with a time of 2:03.94. Though they will all likely be battling for the bronze medal with Smith and McIntosh in the field, expect at least two of the three swimmers to end up in the final. 

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