Gretchen Walsh and Summer McIntosh cruise to world records, more gold at short course Worlds

Gretchen Walsh’s record-setting run at the 2024 World Aquatics Short Course Swimming World Championships (25m) in Budapest, Hungary, continued on Saturday (14 December), as the double Olympic champion set her eighth and ninth world records and captured her fifth overall and fourth individual medal of the meet.

The USA athlete first swam a 52.71 in the women’s 100m butterfly final, lowering the world record for a third straight time in Budapest. Walsh had previously set the world record in both the heats and semifinals.

Tessa Giele of the Netherlands (54.66) and Australia’s Alexandria Perkins (55.10) rounded out the podium.

Walsh later set another world record, swimming a 22.87 in the 50m freestyle semifinals.

There were an additional four world records set on the fifth day of competition in Budapest.

The women’s 400m IM final saw Canadian star Summer McIntosh shave more than three seconds off the world mark as she won her third gold in the Hungarian capital. It was the third world record of the meet for the three-time Olympic champion.

Switzerland’s Noe Ponti clocked a 47.71 in the men’s 100m butterfly final for a global standard of his own and a third gold medal of the championships.

Earlier in the day, Jordan Crooks of the Cayman Islands set a world record of 20.08 in the men’s 50m freestyle heats, and then lowered it to 19.90 in the semifinals hours later.

The men’s 400m IM crown went to Ilia Borodin, while Zalan Sarkany of Hungary won the men’s 800m final.

Saturday’s competition concluded with the mixed 4x100m medley relay, where Miron Lifintsev, Kirill Prigoda, Arina Surkova and Daria Klepikova swam to gold.

The World Championships wrap up on Sunday (15 December) with 10 gold medals on the line.