Budapest 2024, Day 3 Finals: Gretchen Walsh Adds Another Gold in 50.31 100 Free
It’s Gretchen Walsh’s sprinting world, and the rest of us are just swimming in it, at a considerable distance behind her.
The UVA speedster added another gold medal at the 2024 World Short-Course Championships in Budapest on Thursday, coming within .06 of adding another world record in the 100 freestyle.
Walsh won with a time of 50.31 seconds, improving the No. 2 all-time performance and adding another gold medal to her pile. She brushed within six hundredths of Cate Campbell’s world record of 50.25 from 2017. It’s her third gold medal of the championships.
Silver went to France’s Beryl Gastaldello in 50.63. Kate Douglass of the U.S. was third in 50.73. All three swimmers were under the meet record entering the championships.
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Walsh has been on a tear this winter. She set the meet record in the semifinals by going 50.49. That mark had been held by Emma McKeon at 50.77 from the last edition of the championships in 2022.
Walsh has already downed the world record in the 50 fly twice and the 100 individual medley mark in October. That race sets up another showdown with Douglass, newly minted as the 200 IM record-holder.
The medal is Gastaldello’s second of the championships – she won silver in the 50 fly in a national record – and her fifth career. She’s still getting faster in short-course at age 29, trouncing her national record of 51.16 from 2020 in this event. She came within .05 of Sarah Sjostrom’s European record. It’s the sixth-fastest performance of all time.
Douglass’ time slots in as the seventh-best performance of all time, though good for just bronze. It’s her third medal of the meet and her 15th career medal at short-course Worlds. She’s up to 29 total World Championships medals.
The top three made itself clear early. Siobhan Haughey finished fourth in 51.41, never a medal contender in the back half of the race. Daria Klepikova of the Neutral Athletes was fifth, ahead of Kasia Wasick.
