Westmont Pro Series, Day 4 Finals: Gretchen Walsh Blasts No. 6 Mark in History in 100 Butterfly
For some athletes in attendance at the USA Swimming Pro Series stop in Westmont (Ill.), the meet served as a checkpoint in training. Others, such as Gretchen Walsh and Regan Smith, used the meet as a tuneup for their upcoming trips to Asia, where they will race in the China Open. There were also a handful of swimmers competing ahead of the NCAA Championships, slated for later this month in Atlanta.
The four-day competition came to a close on Saturday night at the FMC Natatorium, with plenty of action on tap. Women’s and men’s finals were held in the 100-meter butterfly, 200 individual medley, 50 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 400 freestyle and 50 freestyle. Here is an event-by-event breakdown of the Day Four finals.
- Live Results
- Day 1 Prelims Recap
- Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap
- Day 2 Finals Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Recap
- Day 3 Finals Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Recap
Women’s 100 Butterfly
A race against the clock was Gretchen Walsh’s biggest challenge in the opening event of the Pro Series’ final session. Clocking a victory of nearly three seconds, Walsh produced a time of 55.20, the sixth-fastest in history. The University of Virginia product was out in 25.51 and came home in 29.69. With her latest performance, Walsh now owns the 10-fastest times in history, all recorded since the middle of the 2024 campaign.
Walsh is scheduled to attend the China Open later this month, where she’ll be joined by several other world-class athletes who have committed to the meet. The majority of China’s top swimmers are also expected to compete. Given her form at this Pro Series, it would not be surprising to see Walsh threaten the 55-second barrier and potentially challenge her world record of 54.60.
Finishing second to Walsh on Saturday night was Australian Lily Price, who touched the wall in 58.02.
Men’s 100 Butterfly
After comfortably maneuvering through the opening two rounds of the 100 butterfly, Shaine Casas significantly upped the effort in the final to walk away with a victory in 51.02. Casas built a half-second lead over the front half of the race, on the strength of a 23.52 split, and he was strong enough down the stretch to fend off fellow American Dare Rose (51.36). Rose was the winner of the 200 butterfly earlier in the meet.
Australian Matt Temple posted a swim of 51.83 to place third.
Women’s 200 Individual Medley
World-record holder and reigning Olympic champion Summer McIntosh commanded the final of the 200 individual medley on the way to a triumph in 2:08.21, which was more than four seconds clear of the 2:12.24 from Phoebe Bacon. McIntosh went out in 27.20, which handed her a lead of .65 after the opening length, and her advantage ballooned to 2.58 seconds by the midway point of the race, with McIntosh touching in 59.01 after the backstroke leg.
McIntosh slightly outsplit Bacon on the breaststroke leg and further pulled away on the closing freestyle to finish just over 2:08. Bacon picked up second place in comfortable fashion, as Argentina’s Agostina Hein was the third-place finisher in 2:13.08.
Men’s 200 Individual Medley
Following a sub-4:10 showing for victory in the 400 IM earlier in the meet, Carson Foster was too much for the field at half the distance. Foster took top honors in the event in dominant fashion, as led wire-to-wire and touched in 1:57.39. Foster’s time was more than two seconds faster than the swim of Canadian Finlay Knox, who went 1:59.50 as the only other athletes to break the two-minute barrier.
Foster split 24.92 on the opening butterfly leg, which gave him a .20 edge on Knox. But a strong showing on the backstroke leg expanded Foster’s lead to 1.37 at the halfway mark. He moved ahead by 1.94 seconds after the breaststroke and took his margin to more than two seconds on the freestyle leg.
Women’s 50 Breaststroke
The final of the women’s 50 breaststroke ended in a dead heat, as Ireland’s Mona McSharry and the United States’ Skylar Smith managed matching times of 30.88. McSharry and Smith raced stroke for stroke throughout their one length of the pool and were the only swimmers to go under 31 seconds. They were followed in third place by Canadian Sophie Angus, who went 31.35.
Men’s 50 Breaststroke
Matching his time from the preliminaries, American Michael Andrew grabbed his second sprint victory of the meet, as he prevailed in the 50 breaststroke in 27.00. Andrew was the winner of the 50 butterfly on Wednesday night and was able to hold off South African Michael Houlie (27.13) in the 50 breaststroke. Sharing third place was Jack Kelly and Denis Petrashov, who clocked in at 27.31.
Women’s 100 Backstroke
Although not quite as quick as she was during the semifinals, Isabelle Stadden put together another excellent performance in the final of the 100 backstroke. Stadden pulled away from the field over the second length, eventually touching the wall in 58.54. That time was slightly off the 58.26 Stadden managed on Friday night and was ahead of the 58.82 by Katharine Berkoff, who placed second.
Placing third and fourth were Taylor Ruck (59.88) and Anna Peplowski (59.94).
Men’s 100 Backstroke
Canada’s Blake Tierney bolted to the front of the field on the opening lap of the 100 backstroke and remained in that position through the finish, as he claimed first place in 53.60. American Shaine Casas was .19 back of Tierney at the turn and while he was able to clip .03 off his deficit over the closing 50 meters, he placed behind Tierney in 53.76.
Women’s 400 Freestyle
Distance legend Katie Ledecky secured her third freestyle victory of the Pro Series as she scared the four-minute barrier in the 400 freestyle, ultimately going 4:00.54. Ledecky’s triumph over eight laps backed up previous wins in the 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle, and handed her momentum to carry into the 2026 season. Ledecky went 57.62 at the 100 and was 1:58.64 at the halfway point of the race.
Second place went to Brazilian Maria Fernanda Costa in 4:08.05, and Argentina’s Agostina Hein was third place in 4:10.64.
Men’s 400 Freestyle
A two-time medalist at the World Championships in the event, including gold in 2023, Australian Sam Short rolled to victory in the 400 freestyle. Short had the lead by the 100-meter mark and was never challenged, as he continued to build on his advantage. Short clocked a performance of 3:43.49, which was good for a Pro Series record, and complemented earlier wins in the 800 freestyle and 1500 free.
Finishing nearly three seconds behind Short was Belgium’s Lucas Henveaux, who grabbed second place in 3:46.40. Third and fourth were claimed by Luke Hobson and Leon Marchand, as they were separated by .01 with times of 3:48.78 and 3:48.79.
Women’s 50 Freestyle
About 75 minutes after she popped the sixth-fastest time in history in the 100 butterfly, Gretchen Walsh easily sped away from the field in the 50 freestyle. Walsh covered her one lap in 24.39, which was more than a half-second faster than the 24.95 of Rylee Erisman. The 16-year-old rising star was third during the Pro Series in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free. In the shortest distance, she edged third-place finisher Olivia Smoliga (24.96) by .01.
Men’s 50 Freestyle
It was quite the week for Chris Guiliano in the Chicago suburbs, as the United States Olympian swept the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle. The latest win was earned in the 50 free on Saturday night, and Guiliano got the job done in impressive fashion. Guiliano posted a personal-best time of 21.43, which got him to the wall ahead of Nikita Sheremet, who went 21.60. Matt King was third in 21.85.