Gretchen Walsh Swims 22.87 50 Free To Break Ranomi Kromowidjojo’s World Record

2024 Short Course World Championships

Women’s 50 free- Semifinal

  • World Record: 22.93 — Ranomi Kromowidjojo, NED (2017)
  • World Junior Record: 23.69 — Anastasiya Shkurdai, BLR (2020)
  • World Championship Record: 23.042— Gretchen Walsh, USA (2024)
  • 2022 World Champion: Emma McKeon, AUS — 23.04

Top 8 Qualifiers:

  1. Gretchen Walsh (USA)- 22.87
  2. Kate Douglass (USA)- 23.35
  3. Katarzyna Wasick (POL)- 23.46
  4. Silvia Di Pietro (ITA)- 23.68
  5. Arina Surkova (NAB)- 23.69
  6. Eva Okaro (GBR)- 23.71
  7. Meg Harris (AUS)- 23.74
  8. Sara Curtis (ITA)- 23.76

Gretchen Walsh set another World Record in tonight’s finals session. Walsh swam a 22.87 in the second semifinal of the women’s 50 freestyle and will have another chance to break the record in tomorrow night’s final. She broke the previous World Record of a 22.93 that Ranomi Kromowidjojo swam in 2017.

The 50 free was Walsh’s second World Record of the night after she already swam a 52.71 in the final of the women’s 100 butterfly. Walsh spoke of the busy night saying, “It was a quick turnaround but I think it helped me get in the zone.”

Walsh was last off of the blocks with a reaction time of 0.76 but flipped first at the 50 in a 11.13. The US has the top two seeds tomorrow night as Walsh will swim next to training partner Kate Douglass as Douglass swam a 23.35.

All-Time Top 50 Free Performers

  1. Gretchen Walsh, 22.87 (2024)
  2. Ranomi Kromowidjojo, 22.93 (2017)
  3. Sarah Sjostrom, 23.00 (2017)
  4. Nina Gangl, 23.02 (2022)
  5. Emma McKeon, 23.04 (2022)

Walsh entered the meet as the t-#5 performer ever with a lifetime best of a 23.10. She then swam a 23.02 in prelims.

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Italian fan
8 minutes ago

The US girls came to this meet guns blazing.

Aquatic Ursine
1 hour ago

Something I’ve noticed is she dives really deep off the starts, possibly too deep. Crazy to think she can still shave off some significant time…

dg5301
Reply to  Aquatic Ursine
43 minutes ago

All we can really go by is the fact that she always gets to 15m half a body length or more ahead of the next-fastest women in the world. I’m sure her coaches and Ken Ono (their stats wizard) have gone over every detail to optimize her start and turns. They may have determined that she needs to enter at a steeper angle than shorter women in order to get her body through without a big splash.

Honest Observer
Reply to  Aquatic Ursine
42 minutes ago

Hard to say she’s going too deep when she comes up ahead of everyone. Is it possible everyone else is going too shallow?

Bignowhere
Reply to  Aquatic Ursine
1 minute ago

I have noticed her going deeper than everyone else as well, but I think it is 100% intentional and part of why her underwaters are the fastest in the world

cheese
1 hour ago

Loved seeing Ranomi on deck to congratulate her!

jeff
2 hours ago

who is Nina gangl

snailSpace
2 hours ago

deleted

Last edited 2 hours ago by snailSpace
James
2 hours ago

she is amazing! And on a roll. Unbelievable

Truth Teller
2 hours ago

Male or female, she’s the best short course swimmer of all time

Rafael
Reply to  Truth Teller
2 hours ago

I think she needs to have a little more longevity, she got the multiple WR, but hosszu 2016 was impressive on the reach (7 individual golds and 2 silvers)

EXCALIBUR
Reply to  Rafael
5 minutes ago

she might get more than 7 Golds + 7 WR’s by tomorrow so his stats might be correct

About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. She also attended 2023 US Summer Nationals as well as the 2024 European Championships …

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