Walsh Breaks American Record to Win 50-Meter Butterfly at US Nationals

UVA's Gretchen Walsh qualified for her first individual event at the World Championships by breaking an American record in the 50 fly

Gretchen Walsh had already achieved her longtime goal of earning a spot on Team USA's World Championships roster with a podium finish on the opening night of competition at the US Phillips 66 National Championships in Indianapolis. But on the following night, the UVA swimmer took things up a notch. 

For the first time in her career, Virginia's Gretchen Walsh has qualified for an individual event at the World Aquatic Championships after winning the 50-meter butterfly on Wednesday night in a time of 25.11, which broke the American, U.S. Open and Meet record. 

Walsh is now scheduled to race in two events at the 2023 FINA World Aquatic Championships, which will be held from July 14-30 in Fukuoka, Japan. The rising UVA junior broke her personal record and finished third in the 100-meter freestyle on Tuesday night to secure a spot on USA's 4x100 freestyle relay team. It was a momentous occasion for Walsh, who had struggled in her last two appearances at the U.S. Trials and failed to qualify. 

“I’ve been dreaming of this moment for so long,” Walsh said in an interview with SwimSwam. “It’s been a long journey and I can’t say it’s been easy, but the moment I touched the wall and saw that I got third, none of the difficult times even mattered. I was just so happy to say that I’m going to Japan.”

Fellow Virginia teammate Maxine Parker also qualified in the event and recent UVA graduate Kate Douglass posted the second-fastest time in American history (52.57) to win the event. 

Douglass followed up that record-breaking performance on Tuesday with another qualifying swim on Wednesday night, finishing as the runner-up in the 200-meter breaststroke. Her time of 2:21.22 trailed the winner Lilly King by less than three tenths of a second and beat the rest of the field by more than four full seconds. Fellow Cavaliers Anna Keating and Emma Weber placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 200-meter breaststroke A Final. 

Virginia swimmers notched eight top-10 finishes on Wednesday night. Jack Aikins placed third in the 200-meter backstroke, just barely missing qualification for the World Championships, but still posting a UVA record time of 1:56.04. Noah Nichols finished 10th in the 200-meter breaststroke. 

Reilly Tiltmann placed sixth in the 200-meter backstroke and broke her own Virginia record in the process with a time of 2:08.65, while Alex Walsh notched an eighth-place finish in the 200-meter freestyle. 

UVA alum Leah Smith placed sixth in the 200-meter freestyle, her second top 10 finish in as many nights. 

More Cavaliers will compete for national titles and vie for spots on Team USA's World Championships roster on the third day of competition at the 2023 US Phillips 66 National Championships on Thursday, which will feature the 400-meter individual medley, the 100-meter butterfly, the 50-meter breaststroke, and the 50-meter backstroke. Prelims begin every day at 10am and the finals start at 7pm. The events will be streamed on USASwimming.org and Peacock. 

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