NCAA Women’s Championships: Alex Walsh Crushes Second-Fastest Time Ever in 400 IM

Alex Walsh -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Women’s Championships: Alex Walsh Crushes Second-Fastest Time Ever in 400 IM

After just one year of college swimming, Alex Walsh had already captured an NCAA title in the 200 IM and won Olympic silver in the meters version of that event. But over the course of her career at the University of Virginia, Walsh has blossomed into a more complete swimmer, among the world’s most versatile swimmers and the most dominant medley performers.

As a sophomore, she embraced the 400-yard IM for the first time and won the NCAA title. One season later, she defended that title on the collegiate level and then contested the long course 400-meter IM for the first time at a major meet, placing second at U.S. Nationals and then qualifying for the World Championships final in the race, where she finished fourth, only two seconds away from a medal.

And in her senior-year NCAA Championships, Walsh swam the fastest 400 IM of her life by a significant margin as she dominated the field on the way to a third consecutive title and gave the six-year-old American and NCAA records a hearty shake. In fact, Walsh was under the pace that Ella Eastin set on her way to a time of 3:54.60 back in 2018 through 300 yards.

Walsh would fall off that pace over the last 100 yards but not to the extent that she had in previous years, and she came into the wall in 3:55.97, the second-fastest time in history behind Eastin. Previously, Katie Ledecky (3:56.53), Katinka Hosszu (3:56.54) and Bella Sims (3:56.59) had been the other members of the sub-3:57 club, with Walsh now becoming the only swimmer to ever clock 3:55.

After swimming the second-best mark ever in the 200 IM one night earlier, Walsh explained how she has zeroed-in on race execution this year after numerous performances in 2023 when she faded down the stretch. That focus paid dividends in the 400 IM final. Compared to her 2023 performance, Walsh was more than six tenths slower on the butterfly leg but was able to make up the difference with intense splits on the final three strokes.

Walsh (2023): 53.51, 1:53.17 (59.66), 3:00.30 (1:07.13), 3:57.24 (56.94)
Walsh (2024): 54.12, 1:53.03 (58.91), 2:59.70 (1:06.67), 3:55.97 (56.27)

Asked about what she attributes her improvement to her event in a post-race interview with ESPN, Walsh said, “It’s gotta be my training group. At Virginia, we are blessed to have one of the best 400 IM groups in the nation, and I couldn’t have done it without Ella Nelson. She’s like my third sister. Just thinking about that got me through the last 100, and I’m really happy I went 3:55. That was a big goal of mine.”

Florida’s Emma Weyant finished second in 3:59.00, her second runnerup finish of the meet after previously taking second place in the 500 free. Weyant became the 13th-fastest swimmer in history with her effort, beating her lifetime best of 4:00.98 recorded in prelims by almost two seconds. Weyant was the Olympic silver medalist in the 400-meter IM three years ago, and while she has never matched her long course success in the college-length, 25-yard course, she is showing significant improvement at just the right time as another chance at Olympic qualification beckons.

Stanford’s Lucy Bell took third in 4:01.23, less than a second ahead of teammate Caroline Bricker (4:02.14), with Minnesota’s Megan Van Berkom just behind (4:02.51).

Event 8  Women 400 Yard IM
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 3:54.60  3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
         Meet: M 3:54.60  3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
     American: A 3:54.60  3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
      US Open: O 3:54.60  3/16/2018 Ella Eastin, Stanford
         Pool: P 3:59.26  2/20/2014 Elizabeth Beisel, Florida
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Walsh, Alex            SR Virginia          4:02.85    3:55.97P  20  
    r:+0.76  25.20        54.12 (28.92)
        1:24.13 (30.01)     1:53.03 (28.90)
        2:26.16 (33.13)     2:59.70 (33.54)
        3:28.59 (28.89)     3:55.97 (27.38)
  2 Weyant, Emma           JR Florida           4:00.98    3:59.00P  17  
    r:+0.76  26.09        55.33 (29.24)
        1:26.06 (30.73)     1:56.40 (30.34)
        2:30.37 (33.97)     3:04.52 (34.15)
        3:31.85 (27.33)     3:59.00 (27.15)
  3 Bell, Lucy             SO Stanford          4:04.26    4:01.23   16  
    r:+0.68  25.82        55.32 (29.50)
        1:27.06 (31.74)     1:58.45 (31.39)
        2:31.75 (33.30)     3:05.73 (33.98)
        3:33.89 (28.16)     4:01.23 (27.34)
  4 Bricker, Caroline      FR Stanford          4:02.20    4:02.14   15  
    r:+0.65  25.99        55.81 (29.82)
        1:27.04 (31.23)     1:57.69 (30.65)
        2:31.36 (33.67)     3:06.12 (34.76)
        3:34.86 (28.74)     4:02.14 (27.28)
  5 Van Berkom, Megan      SR Minnesota         4:02.53    4:02.51   14  
    r:+0.72  26.02        55.57 (29.55)
        1:27.21 (31.64)     1:57.96 (30.75)
        2:32.03 (34.07)     3:06.53 (34.50)
        3:35.05 (28.52)     4:02.51 (27.46)
  6 Nelson, Ella           5Y Virginia          4:02.93    4:04.33   13  
    r:+0.68  26.63        56.35 (29.72)
        1:27.89 (31.54)     1:59.55 (31.66)
        2:32.43 (32.88)     3:06.87 (34.44)
        3:35.81 (28.94)     4:04.33 (28.52)
  7 Dixon, Zoe             SO Florida           4:06.03    4:04.93   12  
    r:+0.66  25.81        54.86 (29.05)
        1:25.73 (30.87)     1:56.63 (30.90)
        2:31.13 (34.50)     3:06.74 (35.61)
        3:36.35 (29.61)     4:04.93 (28.58)
  8 Maceachern, Paige      JR UCLA              4:05.38    4:08.95   11  
    r:+0.73  26.33        56.45 (30.12)
        1:28.54 (32.09)     1:59.64 (31.10)
        2:34.09 (34.45)     3:09.59 (35.50)
        3:39.58 (29.99)     4:08.95 (29.37)

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