Latest World Record Continues Stunning Ascension of Gretchen Walsh
A masterclass at the Sette Colli meet over the weekend in Rome has eliminated all qualifiers to the following statement: Gretchen Walsh is the best sprinter in the world. Not best short course sprinter, not best sprint butterflyer. Best sprinter, period, her incredible ascension through the sport’s rankings over the past four years now complete.
During her trip to Italy, Walsh broke a week-old world record, barely missed out on another and earned statement wins over the swimmer who has dominated 50-meter races for the past decade. Sarah Sjostrom, the 32-year-old Swede who has raced in five Olympic Games, was swimming in her largest competition since returning to the sport after giving birth. This would be the first time she matched up with Walsh in almost two years, since Sjostrom won 50 freestyle gold in London while Walsh finished fourth.
The 50 free world record had belonged to Sjostrom for almost nine years. She swam a time of 23.67 at the 2017 World Championships, then broke the record in 2023 with a time of 23.61. That mark lasted until June 19, when Kate Douglass shocked the world with a 23.59 at the Indianapolis Pro Series. Walsh, who trains with Douglass at the University of Virginia, had finished second in 23.78 to beat the American record she previously shared with Douglass (23.91) but come in second place.
The next day, Walsh departed Indianapolis as she and older sister Alex prepared for their trip to Italy. Douglass already knew what was coming. “I definitely think Gretchen could totally get that,” she told Swimming World last week. “The 50 free has to be the perfect race, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Gretchen gets it at some point.”
Maybe not this quickly, though. Walsh swam a time of 23.55 to knock four hundredths off Douglass’ world record. In an Instagram story, Douglass wrote that her time as the world-record holder “was fun while it lasted.” Sjostrom finished in 23.85, a feat she celebrated as her best time postpartum, faster than the lifetime bests of any active swimmer aside from Walsh and Douglass, but Walsh beat her by a convincing margin of three tenths.
Gretchen Walsh — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
That result mirrored what transpired two days earlier in the 50 butterfly, the race Sjostrom won a record-tying six consecutive world titles from 2015 through 2024. Her 2014 world record of 24.43 broke the previous mark by six tenths, and for more than a decade, no other woman got under 25 seconds. Then came Walsh, who swam as fast as 24.66 last year. With Sjostrom finally absent from the event at the World Championships, Walsh succeeded her as world champion.
When the two women met in Rome, Walsh jumped out ahead and won the race in 24.51, notching the second-fastest time in history and lowering her American record. Sjostrom, at 25.05, matched the lifetime best of the swimmer who ranks No. 3 on the all-time list, China’s Zhang Yufei, but still came nowhere close to Walsh. That world record appears to be on borrowed time, and Walsh could nab it as soon as the Pan Pacific Championships in August.
The last swimmer to hold world records in both sprint butterfly races plus the 50 free? Sjostrom, of course, who had a stranglehold on those plus the 100 free marks from 2017 through 2024. That era ended at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials when Walsh swam the fastest time ever in the 100 fly, and she has since lowered that record on three additional occasions. The latest, a 54.33 at the Fort Lauderdale Open in May, put Walsh more than a second ahead of anyone else in history. Additionally, Walsh owns short course meters world records in those three events plus the 100 IM.
In the Rome 100 fly, she posted another sub-55 performance, the fifth of her career, on the day between her one-lap scorchers. She returned later in that same session to clock 52.91 in the 100 free, the third-best time of her career and only 0.13 off her best time. Walsh was overshadowed in this race as Marrit Steenbergen downed the world record, another of Sjostrom’s, while Siobhan Haughey and Sara Curtis posted times in the 52-mid range, but the impressive result at the back end of a double provided more evidence that Walsh has a big drop in store in this event.
The 23-year-old will get her chance at Pan Pacs, where the schedule will allow her to race each of her four main events on different days. Expect Walsh to finish as the top-ranked swimmer in the world in her three best events, just like she did in 2025, and barring any debilitating illness like the one she contracted at the Singapore World Championships, Pan Pacs gold medals could follow. Moreover, the American women will depend on Walsh’s speed in three relays amid tough challenges from Australia.
Yet again, Walsh has raised her level of competition, as she has done every year since she arrived at Virginia in 2021. She did not become a true collegiate star until her sophomore season in 2023, and she has recorded so many signature moments since. Remember her otherworldly short course yards times in 2024 and 2025, her first world record at Olympic Trials, her seven-gold-medal performance at the 2024 Short Course World Championships and a pair of long course world titles while ill last summer? Walsh has done it again.
This latest jump will not put Walsh into the conversation as the world’s best female swimmer, not as long as Summer McIntosh maintains her dominance in mid-distance freestyle, individual medley and the 200 butterfly. McIntosh could soon knock off the oldest world record in women’s swimming, the 2:01.81 in the 200 fly held by Liu Zige since 2009. But Walsh might soon rival the likes of Katie Ledecky and Kaylee McKeown for best right now in the non-McIntosh realm, especially if she can back up her recent results in championship action later this summer.