Gretchen Walsh Could Pound Short Course Meters Records Again This Fall
No one doubted Gretchen Walsh would immediately find success in the short course meters format. She first contested SCM seriously in the fall of 2024, three years into her NCAA career at the University of Virginia in which she displayed revolutionary speed in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events and just after her first long course world record in the 100 fly. The Short Course World Championships in Budapest loomed as the Walsh show.
Then, she got ahead of herself by setting a world record at a college dual meet. Virginia and Florida competed in the 25-meter format as a tune-up for Short Course Worlds, and Walsh promptly threw down a time of 55.98 in the 100 IM to break Katinka Hosszu’s world record by a half-second. Before setting the world record, Walsh also wracked up three American records in the 50 backstroke (25.36), 100 backstroke (54.89) and 50 free (23.10) while putting herself in position to challenge world records in all three.
When she reached the championship competition, the results were even more otherworldly as Walsh lowered nine individual world records over the course of the six-day meet while winning seven gold medals. In the 100 fly, she lowered the world record on three separate occasions, in prelims, semifinals and finals, and she knocked off marks in the 50 fly, 100 IM and 50 free twice each, often setting multiple top times in the same session.
Walsh also finished just off the existing world record as she won gold in the 100 free, and she paced world-record-setting performances for the U.S. women in the 400 free and 400 medley relays.
Currently, she holds four world records in the 25-meter course, most with substantial advantages over history’s second-fastest performer. Her times include 22.83 in the 50 free, a tenth better than former world-record holder Ranomi Kromowidjojo (22.93). Her 50 fly time of 23.72 crushes the best of Therese Alshammar (24.38), and a 52.71 in the 100 fly is a mind-bending 1.34 seconds ahead of Maggie Mac Neil (54.05).
As for the 100 IM, Marrit Steenbergen clocked a European record of 56.36 last year to become the second-fastest woman in history, but Walsh is still more than a second ahead with the 55.11 she posted two years ago in Budapest.
Expect another leap in due course. Walsh did race on the World Cup circuit last fall, lowering her 50 fly world record, but now she has a chance to devote a full season to short course meters success. Moreover, she has made huge strides in long course over the last 18 months, clobbering her own 100 fly world record on multiple occasions while briefly holding the 50 free world record and coming close to the long course mark in the 50 fly.
Those improvements will be on display in late October when Walsh races at the U.S. qualifying meet for Short Course Worlds, then likely in Beijing at this year’s Short Course World Championships set for December 1-6.
And we cannot forget about backstroke as a possibility, with Walsh’s underwater dolphin kickouts giving her the potential to challenge the world’s best backstrokers in the 50 and 100-meter events. She still holds the fastest 100-yard back performance in history at 48.10, and if the schedule allows, she could show off her SCM speed in Westmont and/or Beijing. With her latest chance at short course meters coming up, do not underestimate what Walsh could accomplish.