2024 World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m)
- December 10-15, 2024
- Duna Arena – Budapest, Hungary
- SCM (25 meters)
- Meet Central
- Full Schedule
- Live Results
Gretchen Walsh wasted no time showing us what she’s capable of at the 2024 Short Course World Championships.
In her first swim of the meet, Walsh shattered the longstanding 50 fly world record, stopping the clock in 24.02. This takes a mind-boggling .36, or 1.48%, off Therese Alshammar’s 15-year-old world record.
All-Time Performers, Women’s SCM 50 Fly
- Gretchen Walsh, USA – 24.02 (2024)
- Therese Alshammar, SWE – 24.38 (2009)
- Kate Douglass, USA – 24.42 (2024)
- Ranomi Kromowidjojo, NED – 24.44 (2021)
- Sarah Sjostrom, SWE – 24.50 (2021)
- Claire Curzan, USA – 24.55 (2021)
- Melanie Henique, FRA – 24.56 (2019)
- Inge Dekker, NED – 24.59 (2014)
- Courtney Phillips – 24.63 (2018)
- Torri Huske, USA – 24.64 (2022)
This swim also breaks Kromowidjojo’s 24.44 Championship Record from 2021.
This is Walsh’s third world record this year. At the U.S. Olympic Trials, she brought the long course 100 fly world record down to 55.18. This October, at a UVA dual meet, Walsh became the first woman under 56 in the 100 IM, blasting a 55.98.
In her first time ever swimming the event in this course, Walsh earned the top spot for semifinals by over ¾ of a second. 2nd place finisher Arina Surkova swam 24.78. Walsh will have two more chances to potentially bring this record even lower tonight and tomorrow night.
This is already the largest Margin taken off a 50 record in 10 years I do wonder how much more she can take off?
Gretchen bank account right now be like 😉
Saw she broke a WR in the 50 & had to check it…free, back or fly? I mean, it’s ridunkulous now. Unlike anyone else.
‘MERICA RAHHHH 🦅🦅🦅 bathtub swimming paying off
Taking out another tech suit record. Nice
It’s wild how the record stood through years of attacks from Sjostrom and Kromowijojo, and then Gretchen just breaks it in her first official SCM 50 fly (ever?) like it was nothing.
Very impressive & she can get it under 24 from what i saw !!!
Have we ever seen something like this where no one else in the world is even remotely close to matching her underwater?
There was the one guy back in the early 2000s, think his name was like Phelps or something idk he was pretty good underwater
Heard he won a few races at the Olympics too
Lochte as well but in the 100 / 200 IM
Coughlin in the early 2000s is the answer for sprint oriented events. Phelps was doing it in longer races in a way we had never seen before, but for 100s and down, she was destroying people with her underwaters and dominant in 3 strokes in short course.
Crocker 04-05.
Prime Dressel was similarly dominant underwater but not nearly as dominant overall
oh she’s going mid 23 by finals
people thought she was going 54 at trials in finals. Im taking the opposite side of the argument and saying she drops only a small amount of time or adds.
just saw one of her post race interviews and she said her goal was to get below 24 in semis, i do agree that there’s a chance she adds time but nonetheless breaking a world record that’s been standing since 2009 is an accomplishment in itself
She just has to hit the turn a little better and she’s got it. The question is whether it happens in semis, the final or both.
just below 24 is reasonably fair to expect