Cavaliers Now

Virginia Swimmers Win 11 Medals at World Aquatics Championships

Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, and Maxine Parker earned a combined 11 medals at the World Championships this week in Japan

Matt Newton

Virginia Swimmers Win 11 Medals at World Aquatics Championships
Virginia Swimmers Win 11 Medals at World Aquatics Championships /

In March, Virginia continued to establish a dynasty in collegiate women's swimming by winning its third-consecutive national title. A few months later, four of the Cavaliers who spearheaded that championship-winning effort dawned the red, white, and blue and represented the United States on an international stage at the 2023 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, and Maxine Parker continued to put the excellence of the UVA swim & dive program on full display, combining to win a total of 11 medals this week in Japan. 

Kate Douglass put the finishing touches on a collegiate swimming career that can only be described as legendary, winning 15 total NCAA titles, including seven individual championships. Now with her sights solely set on international competition, Douglass showed that the best of her swimming career is still to come. 

Douglass was responsible for winning Team USA's first gold medal of the meet, taking the world title in the 200-meter individual medley. That was an incredible moment for Team USA and for UVA swimming, as Douglass was followed closely by Cavalier teammate Alex Walsh in second place, giving the United States and Virginia more specifically, a 1-2 finish in the event. 

Douglass won another gold medal on the final night of the meet by anchoring the 400-meter medley relay team. She anchored four different American relay teams, winning silver in the 400 freestyle relay and mixed 400 freestyle relay, and bronze in the mixed 400 medley relay. Douglass added another individual silver medal in the 200-meter breaststroke, giving her a total of six medals, tied for the most by any female swimmer at the World Championships

As mentioned previously, Alex Walsh earned a silver medal in the 200-individual medley, finishing just behind Kate Douglass. Walsh also swam a personal-best 4:34.46 in the 400-meter individual medley, just barely missing out on another podium finish by placing fourth. 

Her younger sister Gretchen Walsh made her first appearance at a senior-level international meet this week and made it count, hauling in three medals. Walsh swam in the 400 freestyle relay along with Douglass to help Team USA earn silver and then won her first-career individual World Championships medal by taking bronze in the 50-meter butterfly. Finally, Walsh joined forces with Douglass again in the 400 medley relay, swimming the butterfly leg to help Team USA end the meet on a high note with a gold medal. 

Rising senior Maxine Parker swam in the 400-meter freestyle relay in the prelims for Team USA, earning a silver medal for her efforts. 

Former Cavalier Leah Smith ('2017) also earned a medal at the World Championships, swimming the leadoff leg in the prelims for Team USA's 4x200-meter freestyle relay team that went on to win silver. 

Less than a year remains before the 2024 Summer Olympics will be held in Paris. If the performances of these accomplished Cavalier swimmers this week in Japan is any indicator, the University of Virginia should again be represented with multiple Olympians next summer. 

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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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