2025 U.S. World Trials Previews: Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske Stay The 100 Fly Favorites

2025 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, June 3 – Saturday, June 7, 2025
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Indiana University Natatorium
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• World Championship Selection Criteria

Women’s 100 Butterfly – By The Numbers

• World Record: 54.60 – Gretchen Walsh, United States (2025)
• American Record: 54.60 – Gretchen Walsh (2025)
• 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials Champion: Gretchen Walsh – 55.31
• World Aquatics ‘A’ Cut: 58.33

The World Record Holder

Gretchen Walsh keeps pushing the bounds of what’s possible in the 100 butterfly. She first took over the long-course world record at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, surpassing the legendary Sarah Sjöström’s mark with a 55.18 in the semifinal.

Gretchen Walsh (courtesy: Chris Pose)

Since her breakout summer, Walsh has continued to shine across all three pool distances, putting in a historic outing at the 2024 Short Course World Championships (including taking over the SCM 100 butterfly world record in 52.71). She closed out her collegiate career by becoming the first woman to break 47 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly—no other woman has been under 48 seconds.

Walsh continued making history at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim, her first meet as a professional swimmer. She lowered her world record to 55.09 in prelims, then torched it in the final with a 54.60. The swim made her the first to break another time barrier, as she’s the only woman in history under 55 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly.

It’s been less than a year since Walsh first took over the long-course 100 butterfly record. The last 11 months have been transformative for her, as she’s reached rarified air in the sport at the beginning of her professional career. She returns to Indianapolis in a very different place than she was last June, as she aimed for her first Olympic berth. Now, she’s almost two seconds faster than the rest of the world’s best this season and looks to put even more distance between herself and the international field on the path to gold in Singapore.

The Olympic Champion

 If there is something we’re still waiting to see from Walsh, it’s her having her best swim of the major meet in the final. She set her world record last summer in the semifinal and swam an Olympic record in the Paris 100 butterfly semifinal. In the Olympic final the next day, Torri Huske was able to chase her down and get her hands on the wall first for Olympic gold.

Torri Huske (photo: Jack Spitser)

It was a huge moment for Huske, who missed the Olympic podium in Tokyo by a hundredth of a second. It was the first swim moment in statement performance at the Games for Huske, who earned five medals in Paris including gold in the 100 butterfly and silver in the 100 freestyle.

Huske spent last season on an Olympic redshirt but returned to racing for the Stanford Cardinal in the 2024-25 NCAA season. She was a major piece of the Cardinal’s success this season, swimming multiple lifetime bests including a 48.52 in the 100-yard butterfly. Now back in meters, she holds a season-best of 56.59 that ranks third in the world this season, though she could improve on that this weekend at the Sun Devil Open.

There’s change on the horizon for Huske and the rest of the Stanford women as Greg Meehan recently left The Farm for a full-time role as USA Swimming’s National Team Director. Meehan is reportedly still writing Huske’s workouts, but Chris Lindauer was just announced as the next Stanford women’s swimming head coach, meaning their partnership will presumably start soon if Huske uses her final year of NCAA eligibility.

The Challengers

Walsh and Huske, the world record holder and the Olympic champion, the top two at the Paris Games—they are the clear favorites for the 2025 World Championship roster spots. But, there is still a field of swimmers behind them ready to pounce.

That includes Regan Smith, who nearly pulled off an upset and qualified for last summer’s Olympics in the 100 butterfly. She touched a tenth behind Huske at U.S. Olympic Trials with a startling 55.62 that makes her the third-fastest American woman in history.

Smith fired off a 56.85 at the Westmont Pro Swim that would presumably confirm that she’s interested in taking this event on at U.S. Nationals. But we have to keep in mind the U.S. Nationals schedule is different than the Olympic Trials one. Instead of the 100 butterfly being essentially a warmup event for Smith, this time it falls on day three of what will be a busy week for the versatile Olympian.

Regan Smith (photo: Jack Spitser)

Smith will have already raced the 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke by the time the 100 butterfly rolls around. She’s proven she’s not against a double, but this would give her a 100 butterfly/50 backstroke double a day before the 100 backstroke. That won’t discourage Smith at all if she wants to swim this race, but it is something to keep in mind as a factor in her decision making. It’s also worth noting the women’s 100 butterfly final and women’s 100 backstroke semifinals are both on Day 2 of Worlds.

Alex Shackell should not have any such conflict—she will be all in for the 100 butterfly on the third day of the five-day meet. Shackell been busy negotiating her plans for next season as she wraps up her senior year of high school. First, she decommitted from Cal to focus on international competition, then committing to Indiana beginning spring 2026 on a hybrid schedule.

She’s maintained her course in the pool, swimming a season-best 57.31 at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim that’s just slightly off the 57.22 she swam at the Indy May Cup right before last year’s Olympic Trials. She swam her lifetime best 56.78 at last year’s Trials, and will once again have the home-state advantage this year. As a Carmel trained swimmer, she is very familiar with this pool. Shackell’s best event at the national level is the 200 butterfly. It may be too big an ask for her to get involved with the sub-56 second swimmers, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see her in the heart of the final and even putting up a new best.

Olympic Trials Finalists Check-In

Walsh’s Virginia teammate Claire Curzan was fourth in the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials final, swimming a 57.47. Curzan made the Tokyo Games in this event, where she reached the semifinals. She owns a lifetime best 56.20 from an April 2021 club meet that would put her right in the middle of the final if she chooses to swim this race.

But recently, it seems like backstroke is where she has chosen to place her focus. She broke the NCAA and American records in the 200-yard backstroke twice this season and swept the backstroke titles at the 2025 Women’s NCAA Championships. Like many college athletes, she has only raced one long-course meet this year and she did not take on the 100 butterfly in Fort Lauderdale. Instead, she swam the three backstroke events plus the 100/200 freestyle.

Claire Curzan (photo: Jack Spitser)

If she’s focusing on the backstrokes, that would give her the same 100 butterfly/50 backstroke double that Smith is facing. She swept the backstroke events at the 2024 World Championships, but Curzan has less room to play with in the 50 backstroke than Smith, the American record holder. After missing the 2024 Olympic team, Curzan’s goal this summer will to get back on the plane for the major international meet. And it may seem strange given the American women’s depth in the backstroke, but Curzan may have a better chance at pulling an upset in the 50 backstroke than she does in the 100 butterfly.

The back half of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials final was made up of Kelly Pash, Beata Nelson, Lillie Nordmann, and Emma Sticklen. Pash has not raced since Trials, so it seems unlikely that we see her return to race in Indianapolis. Lillie Nordmann and Emma Sticklen just wrapped up their collegiate careers and it’s unclear what their future plans in the sport are–Nordmann did post what seemed like a retirement announcement on her Instagram. As for the rest of the Texas butterfly group, Olivia Bray and Abby Arens—both U.S. Olympic Trials semifinalists—announced their retirements as well.

That leaves Beata Nelson, who has gotten plenty of racing done in 2025, showing up at the Westmont and Fort Lauderdale Pro Swims. She only raced the 100 butterfly at the latter, but turned in a 58.50 that makes her the fifth-fastest American woman this season. So, it seems likely that we will once again see her in this final.

There is not really a good place to slot this in, but it’s also worth noting that Olympic 100 freestyle champion Simone Manuel is the sixth-fastest American woman this season. She popped a lifetime best 58.62 at the Westmont Pro Swim Series. It would be a surprise to see her race this event as she’s usually so focused on the sprint freestyle events, but it would be fun nonetheless.

More Finalists Manage Potential Doubles

The schedule for the third day of the 2025 U.S. Nationals goes like this: 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 50 breaststroke, 50 backstroke. That creates the potential for a couple different conflicts. We’ve talked about Smith and Curzan’s 100 butterfly/50 backstroke double and Leah Shackley faces a similar choice.

Shackley is coming off a strong freshman season at NC State. Her long-course success last summer was focused on backstroke as she swept the 100/200 backstroke at the 2024 Junior Pan Pac Championships and swam lifetime bests of 59.05/2:08.19. The Wolfpack has a strong backstroke group, led by pro Katharine Berkoff, and Shackley seems to have really benefitted from that group. She had her best finishes at the 2025 Women’s NCAA Championships in the 200 backstroke (4^th) and 100 backstroke (6^th).

Audrey Derivaux (photo: Jack Spitser)

But, Shackley hasn’t totally forgotten about butterfly. She was one of a few NCAA swimmers to turn up at the Sacramento Pro Swim and swam the 50/100 butterfly in addition to the three backstroke events. She won the 100 butterfly with a season-best 58.75 that ranks seventh in the country this season.

Now, let’s forget about the 100 butterfly/50 backstroke double and turn our attention to the 400 IM/100 butterfly double. Junior Pan Pac champion Audrey Derivaux and NCAA Champion Caroline Bricker will need to decide how they wish to proceed with this conflict.

The teenage Derivaux was 24^th in the 100 butterfly last season and made the 400 IM Olympic final. On paper, that makes this an easy choice if she only wants to swim one. But Derivaux has improved so much in the 100 butterfly over the last year, as she has in so many events. She owns a lifetime best 57.99 from winning gold at Junior Pan Pacs as part of her butterfly sweep.

Plus, her 58.85 from the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim puts her in the top 10 American women this season.  With Walsh and Huske dominating this race that’s maybe a less powerful motivator. But if Derivaux is keeping an eye on a potential line up for Junior Worlds, then we could still see her in this race. Conversely, if she makes the World Championship team in either the 200 backstroke or 200 butterfly before Day 3, we could see a major shift in her schedule for the back half of the meet.

It would be surprising to see Bricker show up here instead of the 400 IM. After all, the IM has been her main focus. But it is worth mentioning her name in the list of potential finalists after her 58.81 at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim. She narrowly missed making the 100 butterfly semifinals at U.S. Olympic Trials, finishing 17^th.

Other Names To Consider

Two Olympic Trials semifinalists to keep an eye on are Charlotte Crush and Annika Parkhe. While the top two in this race are clear, there has been enough turnover behind them that it’s possible we could see some fresh faces in the final this summer.

Charlotte Crush (photo: Jack Spitser)

Crush, a Tennessee commit, clocked a season-best 58.85 in the Fort Lauderdale final that is less than a second from her lifetime best 58.19 from her silver-medal winning performance at Junior Pan Pacs. It was a solid improvement from her 59.32 at Indianapolis Sectionals at the end of March, showing Crush’s build up to Trials is rolling right along. Josephine Fuller just wrapped her senior season at Tennessee. The U.S. National Teamer is best known for her backstroke and IM speed, but did tie for 13th with Crush at U.S. Olympic Trials (58.46) and has been as fast as 58.37.

Parkhe did not go with the small Stanford contingent to the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim, which means we don’t have an indication as to where she’s at in meters. Parkhe was 16^th at Olympic Trials last season and swam a lifetime best 58.58 in the football stadium. She just finished her freshman season with the Cardinal. She did not swim a lifetime best in her primary yards events this season, but it will be interesting to see if something clicks into gear once she’s back in meters.

Mena Boardman, a high school junior verbally committed to Texas, popped an intriguing 59.19 lifetime best as part of an excellent performance in Fort Lauderdale that included a championship final appearance in the 50 butterfly. High school freshman Gabi Brito is currently wrapping up her high school season at the CIF State Championships and has been on fire the past few months. She swam 1:00.07 at the Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions in April and could be in line for a big drop next month.

If you look further down the prelims results from the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, other names start to jump out as potential surprises. There’s Bailey Hartman, who just wrapped her freshman season at Virginia and owns a 58.44 lifetime best. Annie Jia will head to Cal in the fall and has been as fast as 59.20. Phoebe Bacon was 20^th in this race last summer—would she be interested in this event after her main focus, the 200 backstroke, on day two? What could another Stanford NCAA champion, Lucy Bell (58.69 PB), bring after her 19^th place finish in 2024? Bell coming off a title in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2025 Women’s NCAA Championships. The 100 butterfly is not her primary focus in yards, but she’s much better in the long-course edition of the race.

SwimSwam’s Picks

Dark Horse: Caroline Larsen — Caroline Larsen had an excellent freshman season at the University of Louisville. The sprinter swam yards lifetime bests in multiple events during the 2024-25 NCAA season. She went with a 50 free/100 breast/100 free lineup during the college postseason, but it would be a mistake to forget her long-course butterfly skill. She owns a lifetime best 58.73 from winning last July’s Speedo Summer Championships. Larsen swam 1:00.44 in Fort Lauderdale, her first long-course meet of 2025. Another month of meters work could see her right at that best or better, which could put her in the mix for a lane in the final.