Gretchen Walsh Ties Teammate Kate Douglass’ American Record in the 50 Free (23.91)

2025 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

In the final women’s individual event of the 2025 U.S. National Championships, Gretchen Walsh claimed the title in the 50 freestyle, also tying the American Record, held by teammate Kate Douglass, with her time of 23.91.

Walsh’s performance marked her first time under the 24-second barrier as her previous best stood at 24.06 from last year’s Olympic Trials meet. She now holds the fastest time in the world this season, with a time that would’ve won silver at the 2024 Olympic Games, just behind World Record holder Sarah Sjostrom.

2024-2025 LCM Women 50 Free

GretchenUSA
WALSH
06/07
AR 23.91
2Torrri
HUSKE
USA23.9806/07
3Kate
Douglass
USA24.0406/07
4Wu
Qingfeng
CHN24.1805/24
5Cheng
Yujie
CHN24.3305/24
View Top 26»

Breaking 24 seconds in the 50 freestyle, Walsh now joins an exclusive club of only 16 female swimmers who have been under that barrier.

Women’s 50 Freestyle – Swimmers Under 24 Seconds

All-Time Ranking Fastest Time Swimmer Country Meet Date
1 23.61 Sarah Sjostrom Sweden 2023 World Champs 07/29/2023
2 23.73 Britta Steffen Germany 2009 World Champs 08/02/2009
3 23.75 Pernille Blume Denmark 2018 European Champs 08/04/2018
4 23.78 Cate Campbell Australia 2018 Commonwealth Games 04/07/2018
5 23.81 Emma McKeon Australia 2020 Olympic Games 08/01/2021
6 23.85 Ranomi Kromowidjojo Netherlands 2017 World Champs 07/30/2017
7 23.88 Therese Alshammar Sweden 2009 World Champs 07/26/2009
T-8 23.91 Kate Douglass United States 2024 World Champs 02/18/2024
T-8 23.91 Gretchen Walsh United States 2025 US National Championships 06/07/2025
10 23.95 Kasia Wasick Poland 2024 World Champs 02/18/2024
T-11 23.96 Fran Halsall Great Britain 2014 Commonwealth Games 07/24/2014
T-11 23.96 Marleen Veldhuis Netherlands 2008 Olympic Invite 04/19/2009
T-13 23.97 Simone Manuel United States 2017 World Champs 07/30/2017
T-13 23.97 Meg Harris Australia 2024 Olympic Games 08/04/2024
T-13 23.97 Libby Trickett Australia 2008 AUS Olympic Trials 03/27/2008
16 23.99 Shayna Jack Australia Australian Olympic & Paralympic Trials 06/15/2024

Of those competitors, Sjostrom leads the pack by a long shot with 39 swims under the 24-second barrier. The next closest swimmer is Australian Cate Campbell, who has registered 8 swims under the 24-second mark, followed by Pernille Blume of Denmark with 4 swims. Walsh will face an uphill battle if she wants to catch Sjostrom, but she’ll certainly have the opportunity to move herself up the all-time list come Worlds.

Number of Times Under 24 Seconds – Women’s 50 Freestyle

Ranking Number of Sub-24 Swims Swimmer Country
1 39 Sarah Sjostrom Sweden
2 8 Cate Campbell Australia
3 4 Pernille Blume Denmark
4 3 Emma McKeon Australia
T-5 2 Ranomi Kromowidjojo Netherlands
T-5 2 Marleen Veldhuis Netherlands
T-6 1 Britta Steffen Germany
T-6 1 Therese Alshammar Sweden
T-6 1 Kate Douglass United States
T-6 1 Gretchen Walsh United States
T-6 1 Kasia Wasick Poland
T-6 1 Fran Halsall Great Britain
T-6 1 Simone Manuel United States
T-6 1 MEG HARRIS Australia
T-6 1 Libby Trickett Australia
T-6 1 Shayna Jack Australia

Originally Reported by Sam Blacker

Women’s 50 Freestyle – Final

  • World Record: 23.61 – Sarah Sjöström, Sweden (2023)
  • American Record: 23.91 – Kate Douglass (2024) (TIED TONIGHT)
  • U.S. Open Record: 24.00 – Abbey Weitzeil, USA (2023)
  • 2024 Olympics Trials Winner: Simone Manuel – 24.13
  • 2025 World Aquatics ‘A’ Cut: 24.86

Final:

  1. Gretchen Walsh (NYAC) – 23.91 *=AR, US, CR*
  2. Torri Huske (AAC) – 23.98
  3. Kate Douglass (NYAC) – 24.04
  4. Simone Manuel (TXLA) – 24.39
  5. Maxine Parker (CA-Y) – 24.41
  6. Julia Dennis (UOFL) – 24.59
  7. Annam Olasewere (CPAC) – 24.62
  8. Cadence Vincent (BAMA) – 24.90

Gretchen Walsh got her nose out in front after the breakout, and held a slight advantage the whole way through to the finish. Torri Huske powered through the second 25 and looked like she might catch Walsh, but the Cavalier stretched out to get the touch in 23.91 to equal Kate Douglass’ American Record.

Huske also broke 24 seconds to take second in 23.98, knocking a tenth off her best from last year and vindicating her decision to drop the 200 IM for this event today.

Kate Douglass missed out by just six-hundredths in third as she touched in 24.04, her second-fastest swim ever.

Simone Manuel took 4th in 24.39, with Maxine Parker setting a new best of 24.41 to take 5th as Virginia put three women into the top 5.

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bubo
1 hour ago

The only thing I learned from this is that SS has gone under 24 almost 40 times

JVW
2 hours ago

Aren’t you leaving Torri Huske off of the sub-24 group? Should be up to 17 women in that group, should it not?

Mustang_Swimmer08
3 hours ago

typo on Manuel’s time at the end of the article btw

Go Bucky
3 hours ago

Dang… Sarah with almost 5x as many times under 24 as her next closest competitor

Viking Steve
4 hours ago

A very ‘professional’ meet for GW. More fireworks to come at Worlds for sure

dizzyd247
4 hours ago

It’s mentioned that Walsh joined a group of 16 women that have broken 24 seconds in the 50. There’s 17 as of now. Huske is missing from the list and should be ahead of Shayna Jack.

About Nicole Miller

Nicole Miller

Nicole has been with SwimSwam since April 2020, as both a reporter and social media contributor. Prior to joining the SwimSwam platform, Nicole also managed a successful Instagram platform, amassing over 20,000 followers. Currently, Nicole is pursuing her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. After competing for the swim …

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