Kate Douglass Blasts Second-Fastest 200 IM in History, Misses American Record By Seven Hundredths
Kate Douglass won Olympic bronze in the 200-meter IM in 2021, but she barely raced individual medley in either short course yards or long course during the first half of 2022. She skipped the yards event at the NCAA Championships in favor of the 50 free, leaving Virginia teammate Alex Walsh to dominate the race in American-record time, and she did not attempt to qualify for the meters version of the event at the World Championships. However, Douglass made a resounding IM comeback by winning the short course world title in the 200-meter IM in December 2022, and racing in yards at the ACC Championships Wednesday evening, she nearly knocked off Walsh’s No. 1 time in the yards event.
Douglass dominated the conference final by almost four seconds, and she finished in 1:50.15, just seven hundredths off Walsh’s American, NCAA and U.S. Open records, which all stand at 1:50.08 from last year’s NCAA Championships. Douglass broke her own ACC meet record of 1:50.70 set in prelims, which had bumped Walsh’s season-best time (1:51.95) as the nation’s fastest so far this season, and she moved ahead of former Stanford star Ella Eastin (1:50.67) for No. 2 in history.
Douglass swam faster than Walsh’s record pace on butterfly and freestyle but slightly slower on backstroke and breaststroke.
Alex Walsh, March 2022: 23.95, 51.45 (27.50), 1:23.09 (31.64), 1:50.08 (26.99)
Kate Douglass, February 2023: 23.83, 51.46 (27.63), 1:23.59 (32.13), 1:50.15 (26.56)
The record was the third already at the ACC Championships in which Douglass has played a role. Previously, she helped Virginia set American, NCAA and U.S. Open records in the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.
In the race behind Douglass, Duke’s Sarah Foley pulled ahead on the breaststroke leg and held on to finish second in 1:54.12, good for No. 6 in the national rankings, while another Virginia Cavalier, Abby Harter, finished third in 1:54.83. Both Harter (1:54.83) and NC State’s Abby Arens (1:54.93) moved into the national top-10 in the process.
Event 11 Women 200 Yard IM
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MEET: # 1:50.70 2/15/2023 Kate C Douglass, UVA-VA
CONF: % 1:50.08 3/17/2022 Alex Walsh, UVA-VA
AMER: $ 1:50.08 3/17/2022 Alex Walsh, UVA-VA
USOP: & 1:50.08 3/17/2022 Alex Walsh, UVA-VA
NCAA: ! 1:50.08 3/17/2022 Alex Walsh, UVA-VA
GAC Pool: ^ 1:50.70 2/15/2023 Kate C Douglass, UVA-VA
1:53.66 A
1:56.85 IV22 Invited NCAA 2022
1:59.56 B
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== A - Final ===
1 Douglass, Kate SR UVA 1:50.70 1:50.15#A 32
r:+0.69 23.83 51.46 (27.63)
1:23.59 (32.13) 1:50.15 (26.56)
2 Foley, Sally Duke 1:55.91 1:54.12 IV22 28
r:+0.67 24.92 54.16 (29.24)
1:26.64 (32.48) 1:54.12 (27.48)
3 Harter, Abby E JR UVA 1:56.70 1:54.83 IV22 27
r:+0.75 24.80 54.26 (29.46)
1:27.60 (33.34) 1:54.83 (27.23)
4 Arens, Abby L JR NC State 1:55.80 1:54.93 IV22 26
r:+0.69 24.77 54.52 (29.75)
1:27.47 (32.95) 1:54.93 (27.46)
5 Hay, Abby E SR Louisville 1:55.07 1:55.48 IV22 25
r:+0.85 24.56 53.06 (28.50)
1:26.84 (33.78) 1:55.48 (28.64)
6 Noble, Kennedy FR NC State 1:55.77 1:55.92 IV22 24
r:+0.66 25.05 52.96 (27.91)
1:27.93 (34.97) 1:55.92 (27.99)
7 Sheble, Grace E SO NC State 1:56.72 1:57.43 B 23
r:+0.69 25.28 55.02 (29.74)
1:28.75 (33.73) 1:57.43 (28.68)
8 Belyakov, Cathe Duke 1:57.08 1:57.84 B 22
r:+0.74 25.47 55.97 (30.50)
1:29.67 (33.70) 1:57.84 (28.17)