Kate Douglass Becomes 2nd-Fastest Performer in Women’s 100 IM, Shatters American Record

2024 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP-SHANGHAI

• Friday, October 18th – Sunday, October 20th
• Shanghai, China
• Prelims at 9:30am local (9:30pm ET previous night)/Finals at 6:30pm local (6:30am ET)
• SCM (25m)
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Just a few hours after tying the American Record in prelims of the 100 IM in Shanghai, Kate Douglass blew through it to become the second woman in history under 57 seconds in the event.

Douglass swam 56.99, which sits behind just Katinka Hosszu‘s 56.51 from a 2017 stop of the World Cup Series in Berlin. Hosszu, who previously had the 13 best times in history, now only has the 7 best times in history – though she two has gone 56.99 twice.

Top 10 Performers All-Time, Women’s SCM 100 IM

1. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary – 56.51
2. Kate Douglass, USA – 56.99
3. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 57.10
4. Beryl Gastaldello, France – 57.30
5. Charlotte Bonnet, France – 57.47
6. (TIE) Alicia Coutts, Australia/Marrit Steenbergen, Netherlands – 57.53
8. (TIE) Mariia Kameneva, Russia/Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, Great Britain/Anastasiya Shkurdai, Belarus – 57.59

There was previously no American woman and only one non-European in the top 10 of this event all-time; Douglass was tied for the American Record in prelims at 57.72 with Beata Nelson. Nelson finished 5th on Friday in 58.10.

Douglass was out even a touch slower in finals than she was in prelims, turning only 5th at the halfway mark. She roared through the field with the fastest splits on both the breaststroke and freestyle legs, though, to win by more than half-a-second.

American Record Split Comparison

Douglass Prelims v. Finals

The runner-up Yu Yuting set the Chinese and Asian Records in the event in 57.51.

The Douglass camp now says that it’s “highly likely” that she will swim this event at the World Short Course Championships. There, the versatile sprinter will be the heavy favorite – the previous most-recent time in the all-time top 25 performances was Beryl Gastaldello‘s 57.30 in 2020, which will be over four years old by the time Worlds comes around.

Douglass previously had never swum the 100 IM and therefore wasn’t eligible to race it at Worlds before Shanghai because she didn’t have a qualifying time.

Douglass also won the 200 breaststroke in 2:15.96 on Friday for another win. That was within half-a-second of Lilly King‘s official American Record of 2:15.56, though it is much further from American Rebecca Soni‘s World Record (and unofficial American Record) in the 200 breaststroke of 2:14.57.

Douglass’ swim in that race makes her the 8th-best performer in history.

Douglass is committed to swim all three stops of the World Cup and the World Short Course Swimming Championships in December in Budapest. The fall of racing ‘the circuit’ comes after a four-medal performance at the Paris Olympics, winning gold in the 200 breast and 400 medley relays and silver in the 200 IM and 400 free relays.