2019 SPEEDO SOUTHERN PREMIER MEET
- March 1st-3rd, 2019
- Alan Jones Aquatic Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
- 25y, prelims/finals
- Real-Time Results
- Psych Sheets
In the next girls’ open event after her sister Gretchen broke the National Age Group Record in the 100 free, 17-year old Alex Walsh took down a record of her own. She swam a 2:05.87 in the 200 breaststroke, which breaks the old 17-18 record of 2:05.99 set in 2013 by Annie Zhu. According to USA Swimming, that ranks her as the 16th-fastest swimmer of any age in the history of the event.
Zhu was a freshman in college when she swam her time, at the 2013 SEC Championships, whereas Walsh is still just a junior in high school. That wound up being the fastest time of Zhu’s career.
Comparative Splits:
| Alex Walsh | Annie Zhu | |
| New Record | Old Record | |
| 1st 50 | 28.53 | 28.71 |
| 2nd 50 | 31.54 (1:00.07) | 32.25 (1:00.96) |
| 3rd 50 | 32.47 | 32.34 |
| 4th 50 | 33.33 | 32.69 |
| Total | 2:05.87 | 2:05.99 |
Walsh was out almost a second faster than Zhu was in her record. While she paid on the back-half of her swim, she still held on to just out-touch the metaphorical record line.
Alex Walsh is part of the new breed of super-versatile swimmer whose range knows no bounds. Evidence of that comes in that she split 23.64 in the 50 backstroke leading off Nashville’s record-setting relay on Saturday. For comparison’s sake: only 3 swimmers split faster than that at NCAAs last year. One, Ally Howe, won the 100 back NCAA title and is the 2nd-fastest swimmer ever in the 100 back. Another, Kathleen Baker, is the World Record holder in the 100 back in long course. Walsh was within a tenth of them both. (The 3rd was Indiana senior Ally Rockett).
wpDiscuz
Any videos from this meet??
Foster’s dad always post their videos on YouTube
I can’t even wrap my head around that kind of versatility.
Name a faster duo…I’ll wait… (that being Gretchen and Alex)
The Campbell sisters…..what do I win?
Boom. Nicely done. Then again, the Walshes are just 16 & 17 right now. We don’t know their ceiling yet . . . given what we’re seeing now, who’s to say they won’t experience international stardom?
C1 had an unbelievable 50 and 100 free times aged 15 …….24.13 and 53.30 long course
Would be nice to see a comparison of the Walsh Sisters to the Foster Brothers. Which set is more impressive? Who has more NAGs? Who has better long term potential?
The Foster bros are amazing, but I don’t think only Carson is setting indv. NAGs. The Walshes are both breaking NAGs