Budapest 2024, Day 2 Finals: Gretchen Walsh Caps Record Run with Gold in 50 Fly
Gretchen Walsh packed a loaded meet into the first day of the 2024 Short-Course World Championships in Budapest Tuesday.
Wednesday didn’t bring a fourth world record of the meet. But it did secure individual gold.
Walsh dominated the women’s 50 butterfly with a time of 24.01 on Wednesday, four tenths ahead of the field. It’s shy of the world record she set of 23.94 in semifinals, her second world record of the opening day after trouncing Therese Alshammar’s 15-year-old mark in prelims by going 24.01. The record from 2009 had been 24.38. It’s the first individual gold medal at a World Championships, long- or short-course, for Walsh, the 21-year-old who has been in marauding form this year.
She was part of the American 400 free relay that took home gold on Day 1 Tuesday.
Walsh was actually out faster Wednesday that in the record swim from semis – 10.99 to 11.01 – but was just a hair behind coming home. She sees even more time to cut as she dials in the particulars over a distance she doesn’t usually race.
“I’m hoping to perfect that race more and more as I do more short-course meters,” she said. “But I’m over the moon, so happy with everything I was able to accomplish today.”
Walsh’s gold came after she blasted a meet and American record 50.49 in the semifinals of the 100 free to get the top seed in the finals. She was .24 off the world record of Cate Campbell from 2017.
“I felt a lot better than I did this morning,” Walsh said. “I was definitely looking forward to that race to get it out of the way so that I could focus on the 50 fly. I think I was supposed to hold back a little bit, but I have a hard time doing that as a sprinter. I love to just go for it every time I get in the pool, so I went for it again tonight and I think that time was really great. Getting the American record was so cool. I’m looking for more tomorrow night.”
Silver went to Beryl Gastaldello of France, who rallied from fifth at the wall to second in 24.43. That time makes her the fourth-fastest performer all-time, sliding between Kate Douglass’s former American record of 24.42 and Ranomi Kromowidjojo’s 24.44. Alshammar maintains the European record by .04.
For the short-course specialist Gastaldello, the medal is her fourth career at World Short-Course Championships, augmenting silvers in the 100 individual medley in 2021 and 2022.
The back half was where it was at Wednesday. Gastaldello was fifth at the turn but closed in 13.13, second only to Walsh’s 13.02. Sixth at the wall was Australia’s Alexandria Perkins, but she roared home in 13.33 to reset the Oceania record in 24.68 for bronze. That erases by .01 the mark of Marieke Guehrer set in 2009 in Berlin. It’s the first individual record for Perkins, 24, who adds an inaugural individual international medal to relay silvers at the Paris Olympics, 2024 long-course Worlds (three), short-course Worlds in 2022 (two) and gold in the Commonwealth Games.
Arina Surkova, swimming under the Neutral Athletes banner, was forth in 24.84. The Netherlands had two finalists but missed a medal, with Tessa Giele fifth and Maaike de Waard seventh. In between was Melanie Henique of France, who was second at the wall but had the slowest final 25 of the field.
