Get Ready for Gretchen Walsh Show at Short Course World Championships
Elite swimmers regularly decline the chance to race at the Short Course World Championships. Katie Ledecky has never attended that meet, and Michael Phelps only did so once, when it was held in the United States.
Fortunately for swimming fans — and unfortunately for some existing records — Gretchen Walsh said yes to a spot at this year’s meet, despite its timing in the middle of her senior season at the University of Virginia.
This summer, Walsh made the transition from college star to long course world-record holder and Olympic medalist, playing a key role in the U.S. women’s successful performance at the Paris Olympics. But it’s no insult to her long course success that she is still a superior short course swimmer, thanks to those underwater dolphin kickouts that allowed her to swim yards times of 20.37 in the 50 freestyle, 44.83 in the 100 free, 48.10 in the 100 backstroke and 47.42 in the 100 butterfly.
Walsh sometimes fades at the end of a 100-meter race in long course, but there’s far less chance of that happening when she gets the enormous boost of a turn every 10 to 12 seconds. She has excelled in freestyle and butterfly in long course while rarely competing in backstroke, but in short course, her backstroke is just as elite because she can spend more than half the race kicking underwater.
Swimmers successful in short course yards generally carry that over to short course meters, provided they get the opportunity to race in the format. Walsh will race SCM for six days this December in Budapest, with many of the world’s top swimmers in attendance, and she got a chance to practice 25-meter racing Friday afternoon as the University of Virginia hosted Florida in a dual meet.
The result was a casual three American records before she shattered the world record in the 100 IM, all without racing any butterfly events. Just a tune-up for what’s to come.
Gretchen Walsh with her Olympic silver medal from the 100 butterfly — Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
On the USA Swimming roster for Short Course Worlds, Walsh is listed as swimming the 50 free, an event in which she broke the American record and moved into a tie for fourth all-time during the Florida dual meet, plus the 50 and 100 fly, events in which she has yet to tackle in short course meters. We have to expect her to scare or perhaps break butterfly world records, the 24.38 of Therese Alshammar over 50 meters and 54.05 belonging to Maggie Mac Neil in the 100.
No American swimmer is listed as swimming the 100 IM at Worlds, so hopefully the new world-record holder will get the nod. Regan Smith is listed as the only American in the 50 back, so this hopefully opens an opportunity for Walsh, who would probably be the gold-medal favorite in the event, especially given Kaylee McKeown’s decision to skip the meet.
Walsh will not get to swim the 100 back, in which she co-owns the American record, due to the presence of Smith and Katharine Berkoff, both Olympic medalists in the event in Paris. In the 100 free, Olympic Trials winner Kate Douglass and Olympic silver medalist Torri Huske are listed as the American representatives. USA Swimming’s pattern of not holding short-course-specific selection meets might be denying a better short course swimmer (Walsh) medal chances, but Walsh could already have five individual events and up to six relays.
Just as she did in Paris, expect Walsh to handle legs on the U.S. women’s 400 free and medley relays plus the mixed 400 medley relay, which will be contested at Short Course Worlds for the first time. For the past decade, the 25-meter World Championships has also included 200-meter relays for freestyle and medley. The single-gender versions of those relays have been dropped from the program this time, but the mixed relays remain, and Walsh is an obvious candidate to swim on both of those for the United States.
The U.S. coaching staff could also opt to include Walsh on the 800 free relay. Several of the country’s top 200 freestylers (including Ledecky and Erin Gemmell) are missing from the roster, and Walsh posted a 200-yard freestyle time of 1:40.23 at the ACC Championships in February, which made her the third-fastest woman in history in the event. While the long course 200-meter race might be a bit too much for a sprinter like Walsh, she would not be out of place racing this event in short course meters, and she might even provide a major boost for the Americans, provided the event fits into her racing schedule.
That could add up to 11 total medals, although it could take a whopping 21 races to reach that mark with prelims, semifinals and finals of each individual event. Assuming Walsh does contest all of these events, her lineup by day could look something like this:
- Tuesday, December 10: 50 butterfly prelim, 50 butterfly semifinal, 400 freestyle relay final
- Wednesday, December 11: 50 butterfly final, mixed 200 medley relay final
- Thursday, December 12: 50 backstroke prelim, 100 IM prelim, 50 backstroke semifinal, 100 IM semifinal, 800 freestyle relay final
- Friday, December 13: 100 butterfly prelim, 50 backstroke final, 100 butterfly semifinal, 100 IM final
- Saturday, December 14: 50 freestyle prelim, 100 butterfly final, 50 freestyle final, mixed 400 medley relay final
- Sunday, December 15: 50 freestyle final, 400 medley relay final
Yes, that schedule would be daunting and exhausting, so perhaps Walsh drops an event or two. Swimming the 800 free relay after two semifinals on the meet’s third day could be tricky, and so could having two finals with the 100 fly semis in between on day four.
Still, the relay-heavy program at Short Course Worlds is ideal for sprint-focused swimmers, and Walsh is perfectly suited to the requirements of this meet. Racing so many times each day might even feel familiar, given the similar requirements during college season and especially at the ACC and NCAA Championships.
If Walsh takes care of business, producing the level of swims we have seen from her on the college level, a double-digit medal haul is within reach. And after her mini-burst of records last week, another haul of world and American marks could follow.