Alex Walsh is a competitive swimmer who represents the U.S. internationally. She is a 2020 Olympic silver medalist, 2022 world champion in the 200 IM, and 5x individual NCAA champion.
Alex started her swimming career young, and rose to an elite level early, first appearing in SwimSwam at the age of 12 after dropping a 1:55 200 free. She continued to have massive success after that, breaking NAG’s left and right and developing all 4 strokes very effectively. This led to Walsh being ranked as SwimSwam’s #2 recruit for the class of 2020, behind only Regan Smith.
On March 12, 2019, Alex announced her verbal commitment to swim at the University of Virginia.
College (Virginia)
2020-2021
Walsh made an immediate impact for the Virginia Cavaliers. At her first ACC Championships, she won the 200 IM (1:51.53), placed 4th in the 100 breast (58.28), and placed 3rd in the 200 back (1:51.12). She was also a part of the winning 200 free, 400 free, 800 free, and 400 medley relays.
At her first NCAAs, Walsh walked away as a champion in more ways than one. She earned a relay title (800 free relay), and individual title (200 IM, 1:51.87), and helped the UVA women to their first-ever overall team title. Walsh also placed 5th in the 200 free (1:44.12) and 5th in the 200 breast (2:05.86). She also swam on UVA’s 2nd place 200 and 400 free relays.
2021-2022
Walsh carried over her successes from freshman year to her sophomore campaign. At the ACC Championships, she took individual titles in the 200 IM (1:52.38), 200 free (1:42.28), and 200 breast (2:03.02). She also helped UVA to relay titles in the 800 free (meet record), 200 free (NCAA, US Open and American record), 400 medley (NCAA, US Open and American record), and 400 free (meet record) relays.
At the NCAA Championships, much like her teammate Douglass, Walsh switched up her event lineup but stayed perfect, going 3-for-3 in the 200 IM (1:50.08, NCAA, US Open and American record), 400 IM (3:57.25), and 200 Fly (1:50.79). She once again helped UVA to 3 relay titles in the 200 free, 400 medley (*TIED* NCAA, US Open and American record), and 400 free (NCAA, US Open and American record) relays, as well as a 2nd place in the 800 free relay.
2022-2023
Walsh once again had a standout NCAAs, highlighted by helping UVA break 4 NCAA records in the 200 free, 400 free, 200 medley, and 400 medley relays. She also defended her ACC titles in the 200 free (1:41.63) and 200 breast (2:03.68) as well as added a new one in the 100 breast (57.64).
Walsh completely flipped the script from ACCs and NCAAs, returning to her lineup of 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 fly. She took 3rd in the 200 IM with a new PB of 1:50.07 behind teammate Kate Douglass and Stanford’s Torri Huske. She defended her title in the 400 IM, going 3:57.24, another .01 PB. In the 200 fly, Walsh took it out fast and was eventually passed by Texas’ Emma Sticklen at the end, rendering the defending champ 2nd at 1:50.23, her 3rd personal best of the meet.
Walsh helped UVA sweep the relays en route to their 3rd team title in a row, swimming on the 200 medley, 800 free, 400 medley, and 400 free (NCNAA record, 3:05.84) relays.
2023-24
Walsh opened her season against Florida, winning the 100 breast and 100 fly. She faced major challenges in both. In the 100 breast, fellow Cavalier Jasmine Nocentini rocketed out to the lead at the 50 with a 28.22 split while Walsh sat nearly a second back at 29.15. Walsh used a speedy 30.22 2nd 50 to pass Nocentini for first in 59.37. It was a similar but less dramatic story in the 100 fly, with Walsh sitting .14 seconds back of Bella Sims at the 50 before turning the tables and besting Sims 51.87 to 52.09.
Against Texas, Walsh took 2nd to Berit Berglund in a one-on-one “super-final” 100 back in 52.01. She fought back in the 100 IM super-final, winning definitively in 53.21. On day 2 of the 2 day affair, Walsh opened things up with a 50.99 100 fly split to help UVA to the win. She followed that up with a 2:08.16 200 breast and a 1:57.26 200 IM, both #2 times in the nation.
At the Tennessee Invite, which featured LCM prelims and SCY finals, Walsh posted several season bests. In the 200 IM prelims, she posted a comfortable 2:11.24 and followed that up with a 1:52.59 that night. The next night, she posted a 1:43.43 200 free. She wrapped thighs up with a season best of 2:04.22 in the 200 breast.
Against NC State and UNC, Walsh popped a 4:00.52 that stood as the fastest time in the nation. She also split a 50.69 100 fly in the 400 medley relay.
In prep for ACCs, Walsh took on some secondary events at the Cavalier Invite. In the 100 breast prelims, she cranked a 57.89 in the 100 breast, coming within 0.25s of her best time in the event and moving to #5 in the nation and breaking the pool record. Walsh opted not to swim in finals, instating opting to time trial the 200 back.There, she went 1:50.18, breaking an AFC pool record time of 1:51.42, previous held by her sister, Gretchen Walsh. That swim also shaved nearly a full second off of her previous best time, and moves Alex up to #2 in the nation, behind only Cal’s Isabelle Stadden (1:49.21).
Walsh opened ACCs with a 1:41.23 split on the 2nd leg of the UVA 800 free relay, following her sister’s historic 1:40.23 leadoff. After Walsh came Aimee Canny (1:42.24) and Ella Nelson (1:42.58). All told, the quartet couldn’t quite nab the all-time mark, but their finish of 6:46.28 was the 2nd-fastest performance ever.
The next morning, walsh cruised through the 200 IM prelims with a 1:53.96. She dropped the hammer in finals with a season-best 1:51.76. Before that, Walsh contributed a blistering 20.82 50 free split on the 3rd leg of the 200 free relay. Jasmine Nocentini (21.55), G. Walsh (19.95), A. Walsh, and Maxine Parker (21.31) combined to set a new NCAA record of 1:23.63.
Walsh scratched her events on day 3 and returned on day 4 guns blazing. Swimming out of Heat 1 in the 200 fly, entered with no time as she hadn’t raced the event this season, Walsh blasted her way to a time of 1:52.05, knocking nearly eight-tenths off the ACC Championship Record of 1:52.81 set by Louisville’s Grace Oglesby in 2019. If that was not impressive enough, in the finals Walsh swam the fastest 200 fly ever in college competition with a time of 1:49.16, torching the NCAA record in the #2 time in history. Walsh followed up her 200 fly win with a 49.13 split in the 400 medley relay, helping UVA to another relay title.
On the final night, Walsh became the #2 performer in history in the 200 yard breaststroke, touching in 2:02.24. That broke her own ACC Championship Meet Record of 2:03.02, swum in 2022. Walsh opened with the same pace as her previous best time, but she held on to that pace much better this time. She wrapped things up with a 47.05 100 free split to hemp UVA dominate the 400 free relay.
With her final wins, Walsh became the winningest woman in conference history, surpassing teammate Kate Douglass’ 25 ACC titles with 26 titles. Walsh was a perfect 7-for-7 in her last three ACC seasons, and won all 16 relays in which she raced. The only blemishes on her resume came during her freshman season, when she won the 200 IM, was 3rd in the 200 back, and was 4th in the 100 breast.
On night 1 of NCAAs, Walsh split 1:41.88 on the 2nd leg of the 800 free relay. UVA, with its focus on other relays, ended up 4th. Walsh took the top seed in the 200 IM finals by exactly 1 second with a 1:51.95. In the final, Walsh became just the 2nd woman to crack the 1:50-barrier. In her 1:49.20, Walsh had splits of 23.8/27.3/31.2/26.9, all of which were faster than her splits in her 1:50.08 200 IM from 2023. Later in the night, Walsh split 21.23 on the 3rd leg of the 200 free relay to help UVA to a new pool and meet record of 1:24.05.
Walsh cruised to a 4:02.85 in the 400 IM prelims to qualify back 4th. She dropped the hammer in the final. Walsh was first off the blocks in lane 6, getting a half-body lead on the field at the 50 with 25.20. She continued to lead, building her advantage with each 50. With a 54.12 butterfly, she was out a half-second easier than a year ago. She improved her backstroke by .61 to 58.89; her breast by .46 to 1:06.67; and her free by .66 to 56.27. Walsh came within 1.37 seconds of the American Record set by Ella Eastin in 2018. She was ahead of Eastin’s pace by .52 on the front half of the race, and still held a .42 advantage headed into the freestyle but ended up off Eastin’s mark in 3:55.97.
She returned at the end of the evening to scorch a 49.15 split to help UVA net another relay title, this time in NCAA record fashion.
Walsh held back in the 200 breast prelims on day 4, going a tepid 2:05.59. Just as she did in all her other races, Walsh showed up in the final. There, she crushed a PB of 2:02.07, keeping her at #2 all time. Walsh added one more relay title in the 400 free relay, clocking the 4th fastest flying split in the field with a 46.54.
National/International Competition
2018 Summer Nationals (Irvine, California)
In Irvine, Walsh swam the 100 free (55.63), 200 back (2:09.36, 9th in finals), 50 Breast (32.17), 50 Back (28.25, 7th in finals), 100 Back (1:00.83), and 200 IM (2:11.83 in prelims, 6th in finals).
Being the top junior in the 200 IM earned Walsh a spot on the JR Pan Pac team roster. She also ended up earning a spot on the Pan American Games roster for her finishes in the 200 back and 20 IM.
2018 Jr Pan Pacs (Suva, Fiji)
At Jr Pan Pacs, Walsh was voted to be 1 of 5 captains for team USA. She swam the prelims of the 100 breast (1:10.93), 200 back (2:11.34), and 200 IM, the event in which she made the team.
In finals of the 200 IM, she won by over 2 seconds in a time of 2:12.06. She also swam on the winning women’s 4×100 free relay (54.94) and anchored team USA’s 4×100 medley B relay (55.72) which would have placed behind the USA and Australia A squads.
2019 Southern Premiere (Nashville, Tennessee)
At the 2019 Southern Premiere in Alex’s home town of Nashville, TN, Walsh had yet another spectacular performance. She broke a 6-year-old 17-18 NAG, going 2:05.87 in the 200 yard breaststroke. She was also a part of the new 15-18 NAG in the 200 medley relay, where she led off the team with a blazing split of 23.64.
Walsh garnered wins in the 100 breast (58.87), 400 IM (4:07.98), 100 fly (51.31) and as a part of the 4×50 free and 4×100 medley relays. Walsh also earned a 2nd place finish in the 50 free (22.24) behind her sister, Gretchen.
2019 Pan American Games (Lima, Peru)
At the 2019 Pan Ams, Walsh went 3-for-3 in gold medals for her swims. On day 2 of competition, Walsh earned her first major international gold, touching first in the 200 back in a new lifetime best of 2:08.30, just .09 ahead of her American teammate Isabelle Stadden.
On day 4, Walsh was chosen to swim the 2nd leg of the 4×200 free relay, where she split 1:58.27 to help USA to gold.
On day 5, Walsh wrapped up her meet in the 200 IM, registering another narrow victory ahead of an American, this time getting the best of Meghan Small for gold, 2:11.24 to 2:11.36.
2019 US Open (Atlanta, Georgia)
At the 2019 US Open, Walsh broke the 17-18 National Age Group Record in the women’s 200 IM. Walsh came in 2nd in the A final, touching in 2:09.01, just .17 seconds behind champion Melanie Margalis. Walsh’s previous best of 2:11.24 already ranked her 5th all-time in the 17-18 rankings. She shattered the NAG, which stood at 2:10.02 from Elizabeth Pelton back in 2011.
Here is a split comparison between Walsh’s record time, her previous best, and Pelton’s NAG from 2011:
| SWIMMER | ALEX WALSH 2019 US OPEN | ALEX WALSH 2019 PAN AMS |
ELIZABETH PELTON 2011 US WINTER NATS
|
| Fly | 28.26 | 28.21 | 27.86 |
| Back | 33.03 (1:01.29) | 33.19 (1:01.40) | 32.56 (1:00.42) |
| Breast | 37.42 (1:38.71) | 37.97 (1:39.37) | 38.80 (1:39.22) |
| Free | 30.30 | 31.87 | 30.80 |
| FINAL TIME | 2:09.01 | 2:11.24 | 2:10.02 |
The biggest difference between Walsh in Atlanta and her performance at this past Summer’s Pan American Games is that she came home much faster at US Open. She was just .11 seconds faster on the first 100 than she was in Peru, but she came back a whopping 2.12 seconds faster, largely thanks to her 30.30 on the free leg compared to 31.87 at Pan Ams. When Pelton set the NAG, she took the race out considerably faster than Walsh had before in her career, but lacked the back end speed Walsh showed.
2021 Olympic Trials
On night 4 in Omaha, Alex Walsh qualified for her first Olympic team, touching for 1st in the 200 IM in 2:09.30. Earlier in the meet she swam prelims of the 100 back and qualified for the semi-final (13th, 1:00.86), but scratched.
2020 Olympic Games
At the Games in Tokyo, Walsh moved through prelims and semis of the 200 IM easily. In finals, she swam a strong race, putting herself in a position to win and racing Yui Ohashi down the stretch, ultimately touching for 2nd in a personal best of 2:08.65, earning silver.
2022 World Championships
After winning the 200 IM convincingly at the 2022 US World Trials, Walsh brought the same energy to night 2 in Budapest. She swam a strong race and led wire-to-wire, clocking. 2:07.13 to not only take her first world title but become the #5 performer all-time in the event.
2022 Short Course World Championships
Walsh walked away with 6 medals in Melbourne, highlighted by individual silver in the 200 IM behind teammate Kate Douglass and leading off USA’s bronze medal 4×200 free relay in finals. She also swam prelims for the 4×50 free relay (gold), 4×50 medley relay (silver), 4×100 medley relay (gold), and mixed 4×50 medley relay (gold).
2023 U.S. International Team Trials (Indianapolis, Indiana)
In the first circle-seeded heat, Walsh held off 2022 World Championships bronze medalist Emma Weyant to clock a time of 4:37.84, which is a near five-second drop from her entry time of 4:42.15. Weyant ended up being DQed while Walsh claimed the top seed for finals.
In the final of the 400 IM, after staying near even with Katie Grimes and Leah Hayes on the fly, Walsh pulled clearly into 2nd on the back. Grimes needed all the lead she could as Walsh ate up nearly 2 seconds over the first 50 of breaststroke. Into the final 100, Grimes trailed Walsh by almost 2 seconds but in the final turn they were essentially tied. Grimes powered home to take the win while Walsh came through in 2nd. Grimes posted a 4:33.80 to Walsh’s 4:35.46.
Walsh swam a relaxed 2:11.02 in the 200 IM prelims to take lane 5 in the A final. In the final, Walsh was out quickly, turning in sub-minute at the 100, but her teammate Kate Douglass reeled her in over the back half. Walsh touched 2nd in 2:07.89 as Douglass won and broke Walsh’s U.S. Open record with a 2:07.09.
2023 World Aquatics Championships (Fukuoka, Japan)
Walsh cruised through the 200 IM prelims with a 2:09.65 to tie for 3rd. In semis, she turned on the gas with a 2:08.27 to lead the field. Walsh was out in 2nd at the 50 behind an aggressive fly from Yu Yiting. She took over control with a field-leading 31.96 on backstroke; the next fastest backstroke split was 32.66. She maintained her lead with a 36.99 beast split as her teammate Kate Douglass started to close with a 36.17. Douglass passed Walsh as Walsh put up a 31.78 coming home, the 2nd slowest final 50 in the field. Dispute fading, Walsh still took 2nd with a 2:07.97, .80 back for Douglass.
In the 400 IM, Walsh qualified for the final 7th with a 4:39.42. In the final, Walsh was out well over the fly but sat 4th after backstroke and relained there. She finished in a time of 4:34.46, a new PB.
2024 Pro Swim Series–Knoxville
Walsh’s most notable result from this stop was her 2:07.63 200 IM. She also swam PBs of 57.59 in the 100 fly and 54.55 in the 100 free.
2024 US Olympic Team Trials (Indianapolis, Indiana)
After finishing 6th in the 100 breast (1:07.38) and 3rd in the 200 breast (2:22.38) in personal bests, Walsh had to wait until the 8th day of the meet to qualify for her 2nd Olympics. In the 200 IM, she moved through prelims (2:11.62) and semis (2:08.74) with ease. In the final, Walsh lined up next to her teammate Kate Douglass. Walsh sat 3rd behind Douglass and Beata Nelson through the 50 with a 27.44. She used a big 32.74 back to move near even with Douglass and past Nelson on the back. She then split a 36.64 as she and Douglass separated themselves from the field on the breast. Walsh was just a 31.04 coming home for 2nd but it was unclear if that was fatigue or because she was so far ahead of 3rd place but she secured a ticket to Paris with a 2:07.86.
