Gretchen Walsh swims second-fastest 100m butterfly in history at US Championships
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Gretchen Walsh had lowered her own world record twice at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim in May.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CHICAGO – Gretchen Walsh clocked a stunning 54.76 seconds to win the 100m butterfly at the US Swimming Championships on June 5, coming up just shy of her own world record in a comfortable victory over Olympic champion Torri Huske.
Walsh, who settled for silver behind Huske at the Paris Games last summer, had lowered her own world record twice at the Fort Lauderdale leg of the Pro Swim Series, becoming the first woman to dip below 55sec with a world mark of 54.60 in May.
Despite not lowering the mark, she posted the second-fastest time in history and easily held off Huske, who finished 1.8sec back in 56.61.
“I just like pushing myself past boundaries I never thought possible,” Walsh, who now owns the top seven times in history, said. “I am looking forward to getting back home and starting training to get geared up for the worlds.”
The 22-year-old American secured a second individual event for the World Championships in Singapore, which will take place from July 11 to Aug 3, after winning the 50m butterfly on June 4 with the fourth-fastest time ever recorded.
Katharine Berkoff also turned up the heat, posting the second-fastest 50m backstroke time in history with her win in 26.97sec. She broke the American record of Regan Smith, who was second in 27.20.
Lilly King, a three-time Olympic gold medallist and an 11-time long-course world champion, won the 50m breaststroke in 29.88sec.
King has previously announced that she will retire from competitive swimming at the end of the 2025 season.
Bobby Finke surged past Carson Foster to win the men’s 400m individual medley in 4min 7.46sec, slicing over two seconds off his personal best. Foster, the Paris Olympics bronze medallist, finished in 4:07.92.
The three-time Olympic gold medallist and 1,500m freestyle world record-holder had previously indicated that he will skip the 400m medley in Singapore due to scheduling conflicts.
Emma Weyant, silver medallist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and bronze medallist at the 2024 Paris Games, won the women’s 400m individual medley in 4:34.81 with Katie Grimes second in 4:37.22.
Shaine Casas led all the way in winning the men’s 100m butterfly in 50.51sec.
Quintin McCarty won the men’s 50m backstroke in 24.34sec with Casas second in 24.44.
Campbell McKean, 18, won the men’s 50m breaststroke in a personal-best 26.90sec, edging out veteran Michael Andrew by two-hundredths of a second. AFP
