Editorial content for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is sponsored by FINIS, a longtime partner of Swimming World and leading innovator of suits, goggles and equipment. Katie Grimes ‘Prepared for Anything,’ Achieved Rare Open Water-Pool Double in Fukuoka More than two weeks separated the two signature moments for Katie Grimes at the World Championships in Fukuoka, and within those two swims, Grimes accomplished one of her career goals, nearly cracked her first American record and became only the second woman ever to achieve her particular double. Her two medals came in the very first event across all aquatic sports and the final individual competition of the event, with only the medley relays to follow. First, in the 10-kilometer open water swim, Grimes secured the bronze medal behind Germany’s Leonie Beck and Australia’s Chelsea Gubecka. It was nearly a dead-heat coming into the finishing stretch, with the Netherlands’ Sharon van Rouwendaal and Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha — the defending world champion and a swimmer aiming to win an open water medal in a seventh consecutive Worlds — alongside Grimes. Perhaps van Rouwendaal was fractionally ahead coming into the finish, but an extra stroke on the finish cost her, allowing Grimes to reach the pad a tenth ahead. That third-place finish allowed the American to clinch a spot in the 10K at the 2024 Olympics, with only the medal-winners from Fukuoka earning bids. At 17 years and five months old, Grimes was already a two-time Olympian, and she was the first American in any sport to qualify for Paris. Up next? Wait. Grimes would have time to kill as she awaited pool competition in Fukuoka, having qualified to swim the 1500 freestyle and 400 IM. She skipped the 5K open water event and then anchored the U.S. mixed open water relay to an ninth-place finish, but her open water goals were all but accomplished on day one, with the 1500 free prelims not scheduled until Monday, July 24. In the interim, Grimes managed her emotions “by really just focusing on everybody else,” she said. “I know that sounds like something that you shouldn’t be doing but cheering on my teammates and being able to watch finals and prelims every day was something that really distracted me. That was a really good motivator for me going into my performances.” Katie Grimes at the World Championships — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto But when the pool mile came around on the schedule, Grimes could not find her best form. After swimming a mark of 15:44.89 for silver behind American teammate Katie Ledecky last year in Budapest, Grimes snuck into the final in seventh position, and after an initial quick start in the final, she faded badly, ending up well out of the medals in eighth place. Her 2022 time would have been good enough for bronze? Still fatigued from focusing on the 10K? Emotionally exhausted after accomplishing the task of Olympic qualification one year earlier than any of her teammates on the U.S. squad? Whatever affected Grimes in the 1500 free, that was gone by the meet’s final day, featuring the 400 IM. The longer medley requires plenty of endurance but a far different skill set than open water. No problem, though: “Our training is so diverse,” Grimes said. “I’m prepared for anything.” Her best stroke is certainly freestyle, but Grimes has national-caliber abilities in butterfly and backstroke, although she swims those strokes sparingly because of her responsibilities in longer freestyle and IM. Breaststroke, however, remains a struggle. In the World Champs final, Grimes produced the slowest breaststroke split out of the eight finalists. After swimming not far of the pace of world-record holder Summer McIntosh through 200 meters, Grimes fell back to third on the breaststroke leg, with Australian Jenna Forrester moving one-and-a-half seconds clear of the American. Freestyle, however, would restore order as Grimes powered to a silver medal behind McIntosh for the second consecutive year. She finished in 4:31.41, surpassing her best time from April by four tenths, a nice surprise after a long, up-and-down week. “I wasn’t expecting a PB, so I guess I should be happy with it, but I’m definitely not satisfied right now,” Grimes said. Grimes came within a half-second of Katie Hoff’s 15-year-old American record of 4:31.12, a mark that stood as the world record at the time. Both Maya DiRado and Elizabeth Beisel have come frustratingly close to that mark in their own Olympic-medal-winning swims, so Grimes ranks fourth all-time among domestic competition. Good company, and a very good chance to take that mark for her own in 2024. Meanwhile, the result made Grimes only the second female ever to win a medal in both open water swimming and pool swimming at the same World Championships. That accomplishment has become more common on the men’s side, with Florian Wellbrock, Gregorio Paltrinieri and Mykhailo Romanchuk all doubling last year, but the only woman to previously do so was van Rouwendaal in 201, when she won silver in the 400 free behind Ledecky and the first two of her six Worlds medals in open water. Again, good company for the teenager from Las Vegas continuing to solidify her status in international swimming. “It definitely means a lot to me because I just felt like I had to prove to myself that I could do it,” Grimes said. “I know this was a different setup with open water being before pool. In Paris next year, it’s going to be after, so it’s going to be a little different, but going into that knowing I have both is a big confidence-booster for me.”
