Gretchen Walsh Throws Down 55.77 In 100 IM, Breaking World Cup And U.S. Open Records

2025 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – Westmont

• October 17-19, 2025
• Westmont, Illinois
• SCM (25 meters)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Recaps:
  • Prelims: Day 1
  • Finals: Day 1

Women’s 100m IM – Final

• World Record: 55.11 – Gretchen Walsh, USA (2024)
• World Junior Record: 57.59 – Anastasiya Shkurdai, BLR (2020)
• World Cup Record: 55.91 – Gretchen Walsh, USA (2025)
• U.S. Open Record: 55.91 – Gretchen Walsh, USA (2025)
• Carmel Champion: Gretchen Walsh (USA) — 55.91

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Gretchen Walsh (USA) – 55.77
2. Kate Douglass (USA) – 56.42
3. Roos Vanotterdijk (BEL) – 57.41
4. Marrit Steenbergen (NED) – 57.90
5. Anastasia Gorbenko (ISR) – 58.16
6. Phoebe Bacon (CLB) – 58.29
7. Rebecca Meder (RSA) – 58.31
8. Ella Ramsay (AUS) – 59.39

Gretchen Walsh did it again, breaking her own U.S. Open and World Cup Record in the women’s 100m IM. Leading from start to finish, she clocked 55.77 to win, lowering her 55.91 from last week’s Carmel stop.

Her Virginia training partner, Kate Douglass, finished second in 56.42, about a tenth slower than her 56.34 from Carmel. Roos Vanotterdijk was nearly identical to last week, clocking a Belgian record of 57.41 to shave three-hundredths off the 57.44 she swam for bronze in Carmel.

Walsh was out in 24.93, about four-tenths faster than the officially recorded 25.38 she split when setting the 55.11 World Record to win the world title last December. While that split appears to be faster than the official mark, the touchpad didn’t register at the halfway point during that race, and she was believed to be somewhere in the 24-high range, though 25.38 went down as the official split.

She closed in 30.84 over the back half tonight, marking her third-fastest closing 50 ever.

Walsh now owns the six fastest times in history in the event. See a full splits comparison between all of her sub-56 swims, as well as the all-time performances list, below.

Split Comparison, Walsh’s Sub-56 Swims

All-Time Performances, Women’s 100 IM (SCM)

1. Gretchen Walsh (USA), 55.11 – 2024
2. Gretchen Walsh (USA), 55.71 – 2024
3. Gretchen Walsh (USA), 55.77 – 2025
4. Gretchen Walsh (USA), 55.91 — 2025
5. Gretchen Walsh (USA), 55.98 – 2024
6. Gretchen Walsh (USA), 56.06 – 2024
7. Kate Douglass (USA), 56.34 — 2025
8. Kate Douglass (USA), 56.42 – 2025
9. Kate Douglass (USA), 56.49 – 2024
10. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 56.51 – 2017

After her latest win, Walsh credited training partner Douglass for helping push her to another strong performance.

“I really think Kate pushes me a lot in that event, which makes me nervous — you’re like, ‘Someone else is ahead of me!’” Walsh said. “But I really love that event, and it’s always a good time swimming it and racing it. Even though it’s not one you think you’re training for all the time, we really do a lot geared toward a fast medley. So I think I’m always ready for it, whether or not I know it. That was just a good progression from Carmel.”

Walsh added that she and Douglass have their coach, Todd DeSorbo, on deck for this leg of the World Cup. “He told me not to breathe as much on the last 50,” she said. “We’re really trying to work on my breaststroke — that’s still a little… I don’t know. But overall, he just wanted me to put my best racing foot forward and go out there and push myself.”

When asked how she decides what events to focus on in such a condensed World Cup lineup, Walsh said the schedule itself often dictates her choices. “In a lot of cases, the lineup kind of determines what I’m going to swim,” she explained. “Here, it’s interesting because you only have three main ones to focus on. For me, I was deciding whether my main event would be the 50 free or the 100 IM at the last stop, but I went with the 100 IM because I felt more on in that event and more confident in it. They’re just too close together for me to do both. So I picked the 100 IM, threw in the 50 back for fun, and the 50 and 100 fly were pretty much gimmes — I knew I was going to pick those for sure.”

Race Video