U.S. Short Course Trials, Day Three Women’s Finals: Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh Just Miss World Records; Liberty Clark Posts American Record
Thursday evening’s finals at the U.S. Short Course World Championship Trials began with a stunning performance from Claire Curzan, who took down veterans Katharine Berkoff and Regan Smith to win the 100 backstroke and lower the world record, becoming the first woman ever under 54 seconds. Curzan’s world record marked the third by a female swimmer at this meet after Berkoff lowered the 50 back mark and Douglass tied the 50 freestyle record Thursday.
The session nearly saw two further world records, with Douglass finishing just three hundredths off her own global mark in the 200 IM before Gretchen Walsh came within eight hundredths in the 50 butterfly. Meanwhile, Liberty Clark qualified for her first major international team with an American record in the 200 free, and Piper Enge came out on top in the 100 breaststroke.
- Day One Recap
- Day Two Prelims Recap
- Day Two Men’s Recap
- Day Two Women’s Recap
- Day Three Prelims Recap
- Day Three Men’s Recap
- Live Results
Women’s 100 Backstroke
Claire Curzan pulled off a major upset in the women’s 100 backstroke, swimming away from Katharine Berkoff and Regan Smith to win in 53.92. That allowed Curzan to set the first individual world record of her career. Read more here.
Women’s 200 IM
Thursday’s finals saw Kate Douglass get to the wall first in both races she swam, the 200 breaststroke and 50 freestyle. Now, Douglass has added a third win while nearly reaching world-record territory for the second time in two days. Douglass has raced the 200 IM rarely over the past two years, but she is a two-time Olympic medalist in the event and the reigning short course world champion, having set a world record on her way to gold two years ago in Budapest.
Douglass gave a scare to her own world record Friday evening. She turned under world-record pace after each stroke, including by more than six tenths after the backstroke leg. The race long since decided as Douglass powered toward the finish, she touched in 2:01.66, three hundredths behind her own world mark but well ahead of the U.S. Open record, a 2:02.76 Douglass set two weeks earlier. Douglass will head to the Short Course World Championships as a strong gold-medal favorite in the event, particularly with Summer McIntosh and Kaylee McKeown both absent.
As they have on so many occasions for the past few years, Douglass and University of Virginia teammate Alex Walsh claimed the two U.S. slots in this event. Walsh pulled away from Torri Huske to secure a second-place result in 2:04.54. That time ended up almost two seconds behind Walsh’s a lifetime best of 2:02.65, ranking No. 5 all-time. Walsh easily eclipsed third-place finisher Torri Huske (2:07.83), with 200-yard IM NCAA champ Lucy Bell ending up fourth in 2:09.03.
Women’s 200 Freestyle
At the Short Course World Championships, the United States will depend on swimmers with little international experience in both the individual 200 free and the 800 free relay. Leading the American team individually and for relay purposes will be Liberty Clark, a sophomore at Indiana University who has just qualified for her first international squad. Clark used a stellar finish to pass veteran Simone Manuel and claim the win in Westmont, with a historic time to boot.
Clark touched in 1:51.31, taking three tenths off the American record set by Claire Weinstein in 2024. Moreover, Clark became the eighth-fastest woman in history in the event, positioning herself as medal contender in the individual race for Short Course Worlds.
Second place went to Rylee Erisman in 28.63, the teenager finishing second in an event for the second consecutive evening after previously grabbing the No. 2 spot in the 400-meter race. Erisman finished in a 28.63 split, good enough to beat Manuel to the wall by nine hundredths, 1:51.96 to 1:52.05. Camille Spink grabbed fourth in 1:54.14 to claim a Beijing spot in the 400 free relay, with Alex Shackell (fifth, 1:54.46) and Weinstein (sixth, 1:56.50) also available as relay options after previously qualifying for the team in other events.
Women’s 50 Butterfly
Already, Gretchen Walsh has secured her spot in Beijing in the 50 free and 100 IM, two of the five races in which she won short course world titles in 2024. Now, she will defend her gold in the 50 fly thanks to a winning time of 23.80 in the event here, just eight hundredths shy of her own world record.
Walsh owns the top time ever at 23.72, which she achieved during last year’s World Cup circuit. This time was the second-quickest ever, giving Walsh history’s 12 best performances. Sweden’s Therese Alshammar remains the second-quickest performer in history at 24.38.
Second place here went to Claire Curzan, Walsh’s University of Virginia teammate fresh off a world-record-setting performance in the 100 backstroke. Curzan touched in 24.75, only two tenths off her lifetime best of 24.55 which ranks seventh all-time. At Worlds, Curzan should be a medal threat in the event, especially if she ends up racing the 50 fly fresh and not on the same night as another event.
Curzan beat out a strong field of contenders for the No. 2 spot, with Alex Shackell (25.45), Caroline Larsen (25.57), Olivia Smoliga (25.76) and Torri Huske (25.78) occupying spots three through six.
Women’s 100 Breaststroke
In the final women’s race of the evening, Piper Enge qualified for a senior-level U.S. team for the first time, defeating the field by two-thirds of a second and swimming a time of 1:03.91. Enge, a junior at the University of Texas, touched in 1:03.91, good enough for third in the world rankings for 2026. Only China’s Tang Qianting and Japan’s Katomi Kato have recorded quicker marks, although numerous international competitors have yet to race short course meters this year.
Alex Walsh finished second in 1:04.59, qualifying for her second event of the night after previously taking second in the 200 IM. Walsh finished three tenths ahead of third-place finisher Maddy Huggins (1:04.90). The results here make Enge and Walsh the primary contenders to race the breaststroke leg on the always-stacked U.S. women’s 400 medley relay at Short Course Worlds, although 200 breast world-record holder Kate Douglass will also be an option for that spot.
