Gretchen Walsh Shatters 100 IM World Record In 55.98, First Swimmer Sub-56

Florida vs. Virginia

• October 18, 2024
• Charlottesville, Virginia
• 25 Meters (SCM)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “Virginia vs Florida”
• Full Meet Recap

After setting three American Records during the first hour of racing during Virginia’s short course meter dual meet with Florida, Gretchen Walsh was far from done.

Competing in a 100 IM time trial, Walsh rocketed to a time of 55.98, demolishing the world record of 56.51 set by Katinka Hosszu back in 2017.

Walsh is the first swimmer in history under 56 seconds, and breaks the hours-old American Record of 56.99 set by Kate Douglass earlier on Friday at the Shanghai stop of the World Cup.

It’s obvious Walsh is a better fly/back sprinter than Hosszu and Douglass when comparing their splits, as Walsh was nine-tenths clear of Hosszu at the 50 with a scintillating opening of 25.07, while she was nearly two seconds head of Douglass.

Douglass came back faster than anyone, leaning on her breaststroke prowess, but the gap created by Walsh on the opening 50 was enough to put her more than half a second clear of the world record and over a second clear of the American Record.

Split Comparison

All-Time Performers, Women’s 100 IM (SCM)

1. Gretchen Walsh, USA – 55.98
2. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary – 56.51
3. Kate Douglass, USA – 56.99
4. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 57.10
5. Beryl Gastaldello, France – 57.30
6. Charlotte Bonnet, France – 57.47
7. (TIE) Alicia Coutts, Australia/Marrit Steenbergen, Netherlands – 57.53
9. (TIE) Mariia Kameneva, Russia/Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, Great Britain/Anastasiya Shkurdai, Belarus – 57.59

Earlier this month, Walsh recorded the fourth-fastest 100 IM of all-time in short course yards (52.63), with Douglass owning the fastest time ever at 51.97.

If Walsh’s swim is ratified and recognized by World Aquatics, it will qualify her to swim the 100 IM at the Short Course World Championships, which she’s scheduled to contest in December.

Douglass is also expected to race the 100 IM after registering an official time on Friday in Shanghai.

When the U.S. announced its roster for the championships last week, there were no entrants in the 100 IM as no one had posted a qualifying time. Assuming it’s Walsh and Douglass representing the U.S. in the event in Budapest, the Americans will more than likely be looking at a 1-2 finish.

Earlier in the dual meet with Florida, Walsh set American Records in the 50 free (23.10), 50 back (25.37) and 100 back (54.89), ranking t-4th, 3rd and t-2nd all-time.

In a single afternoon, she did some serious damage on the SCM record books with more to come later this year in Budapest.

According to USA Swimming’s database, Walsh has never raced SCM in an official meet until today.

Find the full live recap of the dual meet here.