{"id":581671,"date":"2024-03-22T15:34:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T22:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=581671"},"modified":"2024-03-22T19:13:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T02:13:43","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-alex-walsh-crushes-second-fastest-time-ever-in-400-im","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-alex-walsh-crushes-second-fastest-time-ever-in-400-im\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Alex Walsh Crushes Second-Fastest Time Ever in 400 IM"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Women’s Championships: Alex Walsh Crushes Second-Fastest Time Ever in 400 IM<\/strong><\/p>\n

After just one year of college swimming,\u00a0Alex Walsh<\/strong> had already captured an NCAA title in the 200 IM and won Olympic silver in the meters version of that event. But over the course of her career at the University of Virginia, Walsh has blossomed into a more complete swimmer, among the world’s most versatile swimmers and the most dominant medley performers.<\/p>\n

As a sophomore, she embraced the 400-yard IM for the first time and won the NCAA title. One season later, she defended that title on the collegiate level and then contested the long course 400-meter IM for the first time at a major meet, placing second at U.S. Nationals and then qualifying for the World Championships final in the race, where she finished fourth, only two seconds away from a medal.<\/p>\n

And in her senior-year NCAA Championships, Walsh swam the fastest 400 IM of her life by a significant margin as she dominated the field on the way to a third consecutive title and gave the six-year-old American and NCAA records a hearty shake. In fact, Walsh was under the pace that\u00a0Ella Eastin<\/strong> set on her way to a time of 3:54.60 back in 2018 through 300 yards.<\/p>\n

Walsh would fall off that pace over the last 100 yards but not to the extent that she had in previous years, and she came into the wall in 3:55.97, the second-fastest time in history behind Eastin. Previously,\u00a0Katie Ledecky<\/strong> (3:56.53),\u00a0Katinka Hosszu<\/strong> (3:56.54) and\u00a0Bella Sims<\/strong> (3:56.59) had been the other members of the sub-3:57 club, with Walsh now becoming the only swimmer to ever clock 3:55.<\/p>\n

After swimming the second-best mark ever in the 200 IM one night earlier, Walsh explained how she has zeroed-in on race execution this year after numerous performances in 2023 when she faded down the stretch. That focus paid dividends in the 400 IM final. Compared to her 2023 performance, Walsh was more than six tenths slower on the butterfly leg but was able to make up the difference with intense splits on the final three strokes.<\/p>\n