Gretchen Walsh Aiming for Long Course Success to Match College Speed
The most impactful freshman in the country during the 2021-22 college season was Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh. The Cavaliers had already won a national championship in 2021, but with Walsh on board, Virginia swam the fastest times in history in all four sprint relays between the ACC Championships and NCAA Championships. Individually, Walsh was the NCAA champion in the 100-yard freestyle, and she finished second in both the 50 free and 100 back, becoming only the third woman in history to break 21 in the 50 free and swimming faster than the previous American record in the 100 back.
In short, Walsh was brilliant on the collegiate level, and she fulfilled any reasonable expectation for her initial season on the NCAA level after posting very impressive during her high school years. Back in 2016, she was the youngest competitor at the U.S. Olympic Trials, and three years later, she won gold in the 50 and 100 free at the World Junior Championships, her time of 24.71 in the 50 free faster than any other American age 16 or younger and her 100 free mark of 53.74 sitting behind only Missy Franklin. Walsh even split 53.01 anchoring the U.S. women’s 400 medley relay at that competition. In between, she set national high school records in the sprint events.
With six 100 freestylers set to be selected for the U.S. Olympic team, Walsh was set up well for the 2020 Trials, and she arguably had a better chance at qualifying for the team than her older sister, Alex. After the Trials and Tokyo Games were delayed to 2021, Walsh finished a strong fifth place in the 50 free in Omaha, Neb., but in a surprising turn of events, she ended up 28th in the 100 free, more than two seconds off her best time.
Ten months and a blistering college season later, Walsh arrived in Greensboro, N.C., for the U.S. International Team Trials with another chance to qualify for a senior-level international squad — but the result in the 100-meter event was the same. She was 22nd in the 100 free with a time of 55.57. She ended up qualifying for finals in the 50 fly, 50 back and 50 free that week, but while she posted a personal-best time in the splash-and-dash, the results were agonizing. Walsh had finished in 24.53, just one hundredth behind runnerup Erika Brown. On the last day of the meet, she missed the team by the slimmest of margins.
That same night, Alex had qualified for Worlds with a comfortable win in the 200 IM, and she was asked about what she said to Gretchen in the wake of such a frustrating swim.
“It’s really hard for me being an older sister and having to watch her go through two disappointing summers in a row,” Alex said. “There’s nothing I really can say. The first thing I needed was give her a hug because that’s just what she needed. I know she’s going to get a break and some time off, and I think she’s going to compete at Nationals. She had a great swim, and she had a great NCAAs. I was so impressed by her NCAAs. I’m sure that she’s really gutted right now, and that’s really hard for me to watch as her little sister, but at the same time, I just feel so much confidence in her going into next year and the Olympic year right after.”
Indeed, Gretchen is competing this week at U.S. Nationals, and while no selection is at stake this week, it’s her chance to right the ship in long course, particularly in the 100 free. She will be back in the same pool in Irvine, Calif., where she first broke 55 in the 100 free, and that was long before she was an NCAA champion and the fourth-fastest performer in history in the short course yards version of the event.
Walsh already showed she belongs among the best swimmers in the country in the 50 free, and without a doubt, she’s capable of the performance that will put her name among the best in the country for the 100 free. Can she put the pieces together this week?
I believe, as her LCM confidence catches up to her SCY excellence and progress, Gretchen will be successful at world class level in any event she chooses to pursue. Good luck!