Kate Douglass Blasts Second-Fastest 200 IM in History, Misses American Record By Seven Hundredths

Kate Douglass -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Kate Douglass Blasts Second-Fastest 200 IM in History, Misses American Record By Seven Hundredths

Kate Douglass won Olympic bronze in the 200-meter IM in 2021, but she barely raced individual medley in either short course yards or long course during the first half of 2022. She skipped the yards event at the NCAA Championships in favor of the 50 free, leaving Virginia teammate Alex Walsh to dominate the race in American-record time, and she did not attempt to qualify for the meters version of the event at the World Championships. However, Douglass made a resounding IM comeback by winning the short course world title in the 200-meter IM in December 2022, and racing in yards at the ACC Championships Wednesday evening, she nearly knocked off Walsh’s No. 1 time in the yards event.

Douglass dominated the conference final by almost four seconds, and she finished in 1:50.15, just seven hundredths off Walsh’s American, NCAA and U.S. Open records, which all stand at 1:50.08 from last year’s NCAA Championships. Douglass broke her own ACC meet record of 1:50.70 set in prelims, which had bumped Walsh’s season-best time (1:51.95) as the nation’s fastest so far this season, and she moved ahead of former Stanford star Ella Eastin (1:50.67) for No. 2 in history.

Douglass swam faster than Walsh’s record pace on butterfly and freestyle but slightly slower on backstroke and breaststroke.

Alex Walsh, March 2022: 23.95, 51.45 (27.50), 1:23.09 (31.64), 1:50.08 (26.99)
Kate Douglass, February 2023: 23.83, 51.46 (27.63), 1:23.59 (32.13), 1:50.15 (26.56)

The record was the third already at the ACC Championships in which Douglass has played a role. Previously, she helped Virginia set American, NCAA and U.S. Open records in the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.

In the race behind Douglass, Duke’s Sarah Foley pulled ahead on the breaststroke leg and held on to finish second in 1:54.12, good for No. 6 in the national rankings, while another Virginia Cavalier, Abby Harter, finished third in 1:54.83. Both Harter (1:54.83) and NC State’s Abby Arens (1:54.93) moved into the national top-10 in the process.

Results

Event 11  Women 200 Yard IM
=========================================================================
         MEET: # 1:50.70  2/15/2023 Kate C Douglass, UVA-VA
         CONF: % 1:50.08  3/17/2022 Alex Walsh, UVA-VA
         AMER: $ 1:50.08  3/17/2022 Alex Walsh, UVA-VA
         USOP: & 1:50.08  3/17/2022 Alex Walsh, UVA-VA
         NCAA: ! 1:50.08  3/17/2022 Alex Walsh, UVA-VA
     GAC Pool: ^ 1:50.70  2/15/2023 Kate C Douglass, UVA-VA
                 1:53.66  A
                 1:56.85  IV22 Invited NCAA 2022
                 1:59.56  B
    Name           Year School            Prelims     Finals       Points 
=========================================================================
                            === A - Final ===                            
 
  1 Douglass, Kate   SR UVA               1:50.70    1:50.15#A       32  
    r:+0.69  23.83        51.46 (27.63)
        1:23.59 (32.13)     1:50.15 (26.56)
  2 Foley, Sally        Duke              1:55.91    1:54.12 IV22    28  
    r:+0.67  24.92        54.16 (29.24)
        1:26.64 (32.48)     1:54.12 (27.48)
  3 Harter, Abby E   JR UVA               1:56.70    1:54.83 IV22    27  
    r:+0.75  24.80        54.26 (29.46)
        1:27.60 (33.34)     1:54.83 (27.23)
  4 Arens, Abby L    JR NC State          1:55.80    1:54.93 IV22    26  
    r:+0.69  24.77        54.52 (29.75)
        1:27.47 (32.95)     1:54.93 (27.46)
  5 Hay, Abby E      SR Louisville        1:55.07    1:55.48 IV22    25  
    r:+0.85  24.56        53.06 (28.50)
        1:26.84 (33.78)     1:55.48 (28.64)
  6 Noble, Kennedy   FR NC State          1:55.77    1:55.92 IV22    24  
    r:+0.66  25.05        52.96 (27.91)
        1:27.93 (34.97)     1:55.92 (27.99)
  7 Sheble, Grace E  SO NC State          1:56.72    1:57.43 B       23  
    r:+0.69  25.28        55.02 (29.74)
        1:28.75 (33.73)     1:57.43 (28.68)
  8 Belyakov, Cathe     Duke              1:57.08    1:57.84 B       22  
    r:+0.74  25.47        55.97 (30.50)
        1:29.67 (33.70)     1:57.84 (28.17)

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