Cavaliers Now

Gretchen Walsh Wins Second Medal, Takes Silver in 100 Butterfly

Matt Newton

Virginia swimmer Gretchen Walsh earned her second Olympic medal and first individual medal, taking silver in the 100-meter butterfly.
Virginia swimmer Gretchen Walsh earned her second Olympic medal and first individual medal, taking silver in the 100-meter butterfly. / Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Virginia swimmer Gretchen Walsh earned her second Olympic medal and first individual medal on Sunday, taking silver in the 100-meter butterfly. After setting the Olympic record in the event with a 55.38-second swim in the semifinals, Walsh (55.63) came up just short of winning gold, as American teammate Torri Huske touched first (55.59) in a thrilling finish, just four one-hundredths of a second ahead of Walsh. This marked the first time since 1984 that Team USA won gold and silver in the women's 100-meter butterfly at the Olympics.

Walsh earned her first Olympic medal on Saturday, joining fellow Wahoo Kate Douglass in winning silver as part of Team USA's 4x100 freestyle relay team which set an American record.

As noted by Eric Ward on Twitter, Gretchen Walsh is currently one of only three athletes with multiple medals at these Paris Olympics so far.

Walsh will be back in action on Tuesday, swimming in the 100-meter freestyle.

Two more current Virginia swimmers also competed on Sunday. Aimee Canny, who is representing South Africa, advanced to the semifinals of the 200-meter freestyle, but did not move on to the finals, placing 12th. Emma Weber placed 23rd in the prelims of the 100-meter breaststroke.

In other UVA-related Olympic news, former Virginia tennis players Danielle Collins and Emma Navarro both advanced to the second round with straight-set victories in the first round on Sunday. No. 8 seed Danielle Collins dispatched Germany's Laura Siegemund, who retired in the second set with Collins leading 6-3, 2-0, while No. 11 seed Emma Navarro took down Austria's Julia Grabher 6-2, 6-0. Collins will face Carolina Wozniacki of Denmark and Navarro will take on Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria in second round matches played on Monday.

Former UVA women's soccer player Emily Sonnett has helped the U.S. Women's Soccer Team to a 2-0 start in group play, defeating Zambia 3-0 and Germany 4-1. Sonnett played 25 minutes against Zambia and 46 minutes against Germany. The Americans will conclude the group stage against Australia on Wednesday.

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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.