World record holder and reigning world champion Gretchen Walsh has returned to training after taking a three-and-a-half week break around the holidays.
Walsh specified the length of her time away from the pool in her most recent TikTok video, posted on Tuesday, after she told SwimSwam at December’s U.S. Open that she was planning to take a bit of a break before dialing in for the run-up to the Pan Pacific Championships.
“I’m taking a little break after this to get that mental reset,” she said at the U.S. Open, noting that she had a busy fall with lots of travel, and was looking forward to spending time at home with family and relaxing without worrying about finding a pool to train in.
The 22-year-old said she only had six weeks of training leading up to the 2025 World Cup in October, having take some time off after the World Championships, but still thrived by winning Triple Crowns in the women’s 50 fly, 100 fly and 100 IM at the World Cup, adding a world record in the 50 fly and placing 2nd overall in the series.
At the U.S. Open in early December, Walsh won the women’s 50 fly (25.18) and 100 fly (55.60) with a pair of world-leading times while placing 2nd in the 100 free (53.76) and 3rd in the 50 free (24.57).
Compared to the last time she raced the U.S. Open two years ago in 2023, she was slightly slower last month in the 50 free (24.42 in 2023), slightly faster in the 100 free (53.95), and significantly faster in the 100 fly (56.85).
Walsh and her University of Virginia training partners are some of the biggest names not in attendance at this week’s Pro Swim Series stop in Austin, but we could very well see them in action at the Westmont leg in early March.
After winning four Olympic medals and claiming seven short course world titles in 2024, Walsh is coming off another strong year in 2025, having won three gold medals at the World Championships in the women’s 50 fly, 100 fly and 4×100 medley relay.
Yes.
Hope she will come back from the layoff and be better!
Three and a half weeks?!?!?! How will she be ready for LA with that lack of training????
If I recall what coach said when I was younger, 3.5 weeks of missed training takes 3.5 years to recover from.
This. Coaches have given us significant guilt trips and then even punished kids (no group level promotion) for taking a week off for a family vacation – even when kids were 12 and under. Things need to be seriously re-evaluated in swimming for retention and well being/mental health of swimmers.
I think that there is becoming a mountain of evidence that supports taking more breaks.
Like I don’t think taking 3.5 weeks off in December if you’re a Texas HS swimmer with a state meet in mid-February is a good idea. But some well-timed rests, or even just like some “maintenance” swims and stuff, for a while after big meets, is probably a good idea.
I’d love her to have taken 3 1/2 weeks off and hooped into pro swim series for 50 free and fly, with just normal day of event warmup.
Just to be Curious
Maybe she doesn’t like to show off😊