2025 World Championships
- July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
- Singapore, Singapore
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We are midway through the first finals session of the 2025 World Championships, and there is breaking news from the pool.
Team USA’s Gretchen Walsh, who was originally slated to swim the third leg of tonight’s 4×100 free relay, has been removed from the lineup. No reason was provided by either USA Swimming or NBC Sports on the live broadcast. However, with reports of sickness circulating around the American team over the past week, that could be a potential concern.
In her place, rising Texas junior Erin Gemmell has been added. Gemmell led off the prelims relay in 53.52, just 0.01 shy of her lifetime-best 53.51 recorded for 5th at U.S. Nationals last month.
Gemmell, a mainstay on the 4×200 relay for the red, white and blue over the past two years, will make her senior international debut in the 4×100 free relay.
See the full new lineup below, confirmed by Omega timing:
Walsh has been on this relay for Team USA for the past two years. She led off at the 2023 Fukuoka Worlds in 54.06 and swam 52.55 on the second leg at the 2024 Paris Olympics, helping the squad win silver on both occasions.
Earlier in tonight’s session, Walsh touched the wall in 56.07 to qualify first for tomorrow’s 100 butterfly final, tying for the top seed with Belgium’s Roos Vanotterdijk. She was much quicker in the morning, clocking 55.68 to lead the field after the heats. Walsh is coming off a world record swim of 54.60 at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Series in April and followed it up with a 54.76 to win the U.S. National title last month.
Walsh is still slated in the start list for tomorrow’s 100 fly final, and is set to swim the 50 fly, 50 free, 100 free, and potentially both the mixed 4×100 free relay, mixed 4×100 medley relay, and women’s 4×100 medley relay later in the meet.
Torri Huske, the reigning Olympic champion in the 100 fly, dropped the individual event this morning. NBC Sports reported she was confirmed as ill in the lead-up to this meet. She still appears on tonight’s relay lineup but has not raced so far in Singapore.
I’m here in Singapore at the championships and the stories of how sick the American team is and has been is difficult to imagine. And I also think a bit underreported.
NIL has made them all soft.
Maybe Gretchen has Walsh/Desorbo fatigue too.
Douglass locked up the top relay slot for women after today.
I think they need her for free on the medley. Can they trust lilly with breast though?
Plot twist, they’re all gambling and rigging bets
The reality is that US swimming is getting surpassed by other countries. The only swimmer to earn individual gold last Olympics was Bobby Finke and he is the only with a chance here.
So I guess those other 4 individual golds got vacated?
He’s obviously referring to the men
well this is an article about women…
Think it’s a weird transition period after the Dressel/Murphy/Kalisz generation. The Heilman/Luka/Mckean generation is looking promising but inexperienced, and the middle generation which is in the prime only has one true superstar in Bobby Finke. The team should be better in a few years
And the WUGs team was great.
The U.S. collectively has to figure out how to take that potential and get it over the top. That has been the problem lately.
So Huske sacrifices her individual event for the relay but Walsh – who qualified 1st for finals tomorrow- doesn’t swim?
We’re never going to know, but it looks like the timing of their illness was different. Gretchen was quite a bit slower in semis than prelims, and maybe Torri was feeling too bad to go in the morning.
why would we never know? up to gretchen of course but i could see her explaining it in an interview eventually
Also the fact that Walsh was able to go 56 flat today after not feeling better shows how good and fast she is.
good? Gretchen cruises 55s and barely looks out of breath afterwards usually, today she went a 56 and looked dead afterwards. She does not look in good condition at all
Obviously her condition looked a lot better in the morning compared to the night with not feeling well and yet she did go 56 flat tied with a Belgian swimmer and barring any scratches , she’s only need to take good care of herself to get prepared for tomorrow night finals
Makes sense, actually. KL described a very similar illness in her book and according to her it really saps the endurance. She was able to put one decent really leg, but paid for it the next morning in her individual swim. Very likely none of the affected people is physically capable of doing a double without bombing. That also explains Gretchen adding time from prelims.
We need to hold ourselves to a higher standard as a sport. If Jalen Hurts was suddenly not going to play the second half of the Super Bowl, the medical reason would be given. If G Walsh is sick, it should be shared.
Disappointed in the lack of coverage. Greg Meehan should be doing a press conference as soon as session ends
I get what you’re saying, but the reason is also very evident. Unfortunately, the food poisoning that went around in Thailand is going to cast a shadow over many of the swims the US does.
But sometimes you just lose (men’s 4×100) to a better team
Nah
sometimes you just lose (men’s 4×100) to two better teams. Italy got the Silver.
The best way to force transparency in the sport is to introduce gambling to it. If you want athletes to disclose information about themselves, 6 figure checks from DraftKings are the way to do that.
Even the top Olympic spots seem bush league. I know some might say it’s not related but look what happened with Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track he still hasn’t paid the athletes and the excuses continue.
I know these things happen with athletes getting sick etc but USA swimming picked the camp training site and should explain what’s going on in real time (this ain’t 1965).
You must be new. I can help. The last time USA Swimming took public responsibility for a mistake was …. never.
Not at all. Been watching since the 80s. I don’t expect USA swimming to take the responsibility but someone should hold their feet to the fire
Spectators buy tickets to NFL games, and players are paid millions of $$.
I would argue that you (as a fan) have no more right to Gretchen Walsh’s personal medical information than you do to mine. Also, it’s extremely likely that she has been afflicted by whatever GI issue (food poisoning or virus) has been making it’s way through Team USA since they were in Thailand.
Bingo.
Sounds like Jalen Hurts and the other NFL players are like gladiators in the ring for our entertainment, but Gretchen Walsh is one of us. The idea that her lack of money is the distinction between the two makes no sense.
Maybe we also don’t have a right to know Jalen Hurts’s medical information, but at least in that case spectators have a logical case to make (spending big $$$ on tickets to the event and wanting to know why they don’t get to see the star player they paid to see).
It’s obvious she’s making room for the junior swimmer and focusing on the butterfly races. If she was really sick she wouldn’t be swimming any butterfly races.
That’s a take, sacrificing a possible gold medal for her and the team to let a “junior” swimmer take her spot
She’s still sick (or maybe injured, but likely sick) otherwise she wouldn’t drop that relay spot last second. They had to get the substitution approved due to illness per the telecast
Nope
This is exactly why they lost. Bad call in my opinion.