67th SETTE COLLI TROPHY
- Friday, June 26th – Sunday, June 28th
- Prelims at 9am local (3am ET)/A-Finals at 7pm local (1pm ET)
- Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
- Meet Central
- Entry List
- Live Results
- Finals Livestream
- Day 1 Prelims Recap
- Day 1 Finals Live Recap
Towards the end of the first night of finals at the 2026 Sette Colli Trophy, Gretchen Walsh threw down an American Record en route to dominating the women’s 50m butterfly final in the second-fastest time in event history.
The 23-year-old clocked 24.51 to get the win ahead of world record holder Sarah Sjostrom (25.05) of Sweden and Roos Vanotterdijk (25.87) of Belgium.
Race Video
Walsh’s former American Record was the 24.66 she produced to win the 2025 U.S. World Championship Trials, a time that ranked as the fourth-fastest swim in history prior to tonight. She is the reigning world champion in both sprint fly events and the 2024 Olympic silver medalist in the 100 fly, an event in which she holds the world record and stands alone at the top of the all-time list by more than a full second.
The 32-year-old Sjostrom, a six-time world champion in the event between 2015 and 2024, still owns the world record at 24.43, a time she set in the summer of 2014. Aside from that world-record swim, she has never been under 24.6, though she owns eight of the 10 fastest performances in history, with Walsh holding the No. 2 and No. 5 spots all-time.
Tonight’s swim was the 29th sub-25-second performance in history, with Walsh now owning five such swims compared to Sjostrom’s mind-bending 24. The duo remain the only two swimmers to ever crack the 25-second barrier.
Sjostrom’s silver medal-worthy time tonight is certainly not to be glossed over. It is her fastest since returning to competition, a comeback best by a few tenths, following the 25.31 she swam in prelims this morning in her first time racing the event since giving birth to her son Adrian in late August.
Elsewhere in the session, Walsh’s training partner at the University of Virginia, Italian Sara Curtis, threw down a European Record of 27.07 in the 50m backstroke. The Cavaliers have been on fire all season; most notably, Kate Douglass broke the world record in the 50 free (23.59) last week with Walsh (23.78) posting a massive personal best behind her, Anna Moesch clocked an American Record of 51.94 in the 100 free in London just over a month ago, and Isabelle Stadden has been on a tear with times of 27.14, 57.55, and 2:04.37 across all three backstroke events.
Walsh’s swim tonight marks the Virginia program’s 99th American Record across all courses in the past five years, with a strong chance of hitting 100 not only this summer, but potentially this weekend.
- Related From May 2025: How Many? Taking a Look at Virginia’s Recent American Record Blitz
Bathub swimmer
But was it wind legal
I also had a baby last August and swam an 800 in like 20 min today. 😝 Sarah is amazing!
Walsh, Curtis, Douglass, Moesch, Stadden, Canny…
what is Todd pouring in the UVA water this summer?
and it’s still June
Monster Energy
If Walsh had executed Sjostrom’s finish in that race, it would’ve been a world record. Walsh had such a beautiful middle part of that 50. It was pure elegance and power combined into one.
Feel Walsh has a good stroke, but it is her underwater and breakout that sets her apart. I feel that Walsh had a good finish (not perfect, but good).
It’s her dolphin kick in general. Such a huge weapon.
Absolutely wonderful and amazing!!! This gal is gonna smash the WR.
That is super fast time for a woman who gave birth last August. Even if GW breaks the WR, SS will get it back.
I was with you until that second line
Why!? You don’t think she can do it? GMAB. The Americans all have tunnel vision.
no i don’t think a 32 year old woman that has a kid now is gonna go a 24.3 in the 50 fly lol
Don’t bet huge money against!
I think it is possible for a 32 old woman to do it. But, Sarah went her 24.4 ten years ago. Getting a new PB could happen at 32, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Sarah’s start and UW has been her achilles heel when compared to some other swimmers, Walsh, Kromowidjojo etc. If that can be drastically improved, I could see her get down to 24.3 but I think Walsh will be around 24.1
At the end of the day she is human
Just realistic. I think in all sports, fans are unrealistic on the effects of age. We think our superstars will keep hitting best times or doing whatever makes them special in their sport. Yes, Cam McEvoy set a new world record recently at 32. Sjöström herself was 29 when she set her most recent world record in the 50 free in 2023, which itself was 14 years after her first world record was set in 2009. However, the 50 fly record will be 12 years old in just over a week, set when Sjöström was 20 years old. If Gretchen Walsh breaks that record, I think it is wishful thinking to think Sjöström will get it back. In the last… Read more »
Well….
1. McEvoy just did a WR just shy of 32, and he might again.
2. She might be stronger after childbirth. (It’s a thing!)
3. She is S MF S!!!
Deal the cards.
Mcevoy specifically trains just for the 50 free and does a lot of specialized unique training. 50 fly on both men’s and women’s side seems to be an event where you can pop off an insane time once but it’s really hard to consistently do that. So by that measure maybe Sarah could do it again but I highly doubt it. She’s not getting any younger and outside of her magical 24.43 her best time ever is a 24.60 in Budapest in 2017. She’s been 24.6 3 times and 24.7 5 times including as recently as 2024. I’d be shocked if she dipped into the 24.6 lows ever again let alone be a 24.4 or faster
She COULD do it! I’m with you here, especially after seeing her last 15m today.
And the rest of the world are malaka wankers
24.51 is ridiculous. And 25.0 from Sarah is also incredible given she had a baby last year!