Cavaliers Now

Virginia's Alex Walsh Wins 200 IM World Championship

Walsh set a personal best and took gold in the 200-meter individual medley on Sunday in Budapest

Matt Newton

Alex Walsh is officially a world champion. 

The UVA swimmer delivered a dominant performance in the 200-meter individual medley on Sunday at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, taking gold with a finish that beat the rest of the field by almost a second and a half. 

Essentially leading from start to finish, Walsh swam the 200m IM in 2:07.13, breaking her personal record and registering the fifth-fastest time ever recorded in the event. Team USA went 1-3 as Leah Hayes finished third in 2:08.91 behind Australia's Kaylee McKeown, who finished in 2:08.57 to take silver. 

2022 has been a fantastic year for Alex Walsh, who won a total of six NCAA titles as a crucial part of Virginia's NCAA Team National Championship in March. Walsh won the 200-yard individual medley, 400-yard individual medley, and 200-yard butterfly events and swam legs in UVA's title-winning 400-yard medley relay, 400-yard freestyle relay, and 200-yard freestyle relay teams. Walsh also earned a silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley at the 2020 Summer Olympics back in August.

Walsh is the third Cavalier to earn a medal at the 2022 FINA World Championships so far, joining Leah Smith (400-meter freestyle) and Kate Douglass (4x100-meter relay), who both earned bronze medals on Saturday. 

Walsh and Leah Smith will swim again on Wednesday as part of Team USA's 4x200-meter freestyle relay team and Smith will swim again on Thursday in the 800-meter freestyle. Kate Douglass is set to swim in the 200-meter breaststroke on Thursday as well and UVA freshman Emma Weyant will race in the 400-meter individual medley on Saturday, June 25th. All of the swimming finals at the 2022 FINA World Championships can be streamed on NBC Sports. 

See the full schedule of events for the 2022 FINA World Championships here. 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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