2024 Short Course World Championships
- December 10-15, 2024
- Duna Arena, Budapest, Hungary
- SCM (25m)
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Australia’s Alexandria Perkins snagged her first major international individual medal on Wednesday at the Short Course Championships in Budapest, breaking a super-suited record in the process in the final of the women’s 50 butterfly.
Perkins put up a time of 24.68 to win bronze and break the 15-year-old Oceanian and Australian Record of 24.69 set by Marieke Guehrer at the 2009 World Cup stop in Berlin.
The 21-year-old Perkins claimed bronze behind American Gretchen Walsh (24.01) and Frenchwoman Beryl Gastaldello (24.43), with Walsh having broken the world record in both the prelims (24.02) and semis (23.94), while Gastaldello’s swim in the final marked a new French Record.
Perkins came into the meet with a personal best of 24.99, set in September, and she lowered it to 24.89 in the semis before her swim tonight.
She now ranks 12th all-time in the event, with Gastaldello moving to #4.
All-Time Performers, Women’s 50 Butterfly (SCM)
- Gretchen Walsh (USA), 23.94 – 2024
- Therese Alshammar (SWE), 24.38 – 2009
- Kate Douglass (USA), 24.42 – 2024
- Beryl Gastaldello (FRA), 24.43 – 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
- Torri Huske (USA) / Maggie MacNeil (CAN), 24.64 – 2022
- –
- Alexandria Perkins (AUS), 24.68 – 2024
Perkins came just four one-hundredths shy of breaking the Commonwealth Record, which was set by Canadian Maggie MacNeil at the 2022 SC Worlds.
The bronze medal is the second for Perkins in Budapest, as she threw down a 51.68 split on the Australian women’s 4×100 free relay team that won silver on the opening night.
Later in the session after the 50 fly final, Perkins was back in the water in the mixed 4×50 medley relay, splitting 24.61 on fly for the Australian team that ultimately finished fourth.
Perkins made her Olympic debut this past summer in Paris, winning silver on the women’s 4×100 medley relay after swimming a preliminary leg. She also made the semis of the 100 fly, placing 13th.
She also won three relay medals, all silver at the 2024 World Championships in Doha.
