Kate Douglass Clocks 52.73 100-Yard IM, Second-Fastest Performance In History

Yanyan Li
by Yanyan Li 26

October 01st, 2022 ACC, College, National, News

UVA BLUE VS. ORANGE INTRASQUAD

  • October 1, 2022
  • SCY (25 Yards)
  • Charlottesville, Virginia
  • Full Results

Click here for the full meet recap. 

On Saturday, Virginia senior Kate Douglass swam a time of 52.73 in the women’s 100-yard IM at the UVA Blue vs. Orange intrasquad meet. That time registers as the second-fastest of all-time in the event, just trailing the 52.48 she swam at the 2020 UVA intrasquad as a sophomore. It is also only the second recorded women’s 100 IM under the 53-second barrier.

Finishing second behind Douglass was her teammate and domestic 200 IM rival Alex Walsh, who clocked a 53.73—the sixth-fastest time in history. She won the 100 IM at last year’s edition of the UVA intrasquad in a time of 53.08, which is currently the fourth-fastest time ever.

The 100 IM isn’t typically contested at major college meets such as conferences and NCAAs, but it is an official NCAA event. The biggest yards meet that offer the 100 IM is the NSCA Junior National Championships, although the short course meters edition of the race is part of the event program at both the FINA Short Course World Championships as well as the ISL.

Neither the NCAA nor USA Swimming has published an official record in that race.

Women’s 100 IM, Top Performances*:

  1. Kate Douglass — 52.48 (2020)
  2. Kate Douglass — 52.73 (2022)
  3. Katie Meili — 53.02 (2014)
  4. Alex Walsh — 53.08 (2021)
  5. Gretchen Walsh — 53.54 (2021)
  6. Alex Walsh — 53.73 (2022)

*verifying times for an event not typically raced at official meets is difficult, so if you know of a swim we missed, please let us know in the comments.

Douglass touched at the 50-yard mark in 24.67, just 0.01 seconds ahead of Walsh. However, she outsplit Walsh 28.06 to 29.06 on the finish, which accounts for the majority of the gap between the two swimmers. This makes sense considering that Douglass’ weakest stroke of backstroke comes in the front half of the race, wheras she is strong in both breast and free, which make up the back half of an IM.

In 2020, when Douglass went the fastest-ever 100 IM, she split 23.89/28.59. Her first 50 from that race was nearly a second faster than it was on Saturday, but her last 50 was half a second slower.

Race Video:

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Foreign Embassy
2 years ago

Please add the 100IM and 1000 free to NCAA Div 1 champs!

Meathead
2 years ago

Best event in swimming. Everyone knows Grevers the GOAT.

Not sure there will ever be a female equivalent

Many say, at 40 yo, breaking 56 is a sign of high T

Radiogaga
2 years ago

Not the second fastest 100 IM…it is however the second fastest girls swim.

Meathead
Reply to  Radiogaga
2 years ago

You…. Are the worst

MTK
2 years ago

Put the 100IM back into conference meets and NCAA champs, you cowards!

Meathead
Reply to  MTK
2 years ago

Best event to watch and swim

There's no doubt that he's tightening up
2 years ago

Impressive. Very nice. Let’s see Braden Holloway’s group.

Swimmerj
2 years ago

Doug killed the free leg of the 100 IM

JimSwim22
2 years ago

Didn’t they soon the 1IM before NCAAs? Up to 1982? Wonder what times were then?

Last edited 2 years ago by JimSwim22
Admin
Reply to  JimSwim22
2 years ago

In fact, they swam it at the first NCAA women’s championship in 1982, where none other than Tracy Caulkins won. Her time was 55.74.

They never swam it at the men’s NCAA Championship meet.

Michael Andrew Wilson
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

This is the content I’m here for. That is a fantastic tidbit.

MarkB
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

55.7 from 40 years ago. Not bad!

Admin
Reply to  MarkB
2 years ago

For sure. And Tracy was the Kate Douglass of her era.

I would guesstimate that Kate would be capable of around 51.0-51.3 if she swam it at the NCAA Championships this year.

Becky D
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

And Tracy was the Kate Douglass of her era.

I’d say that Kate is today’s Tracy Caulkins.

Admin
Reply to  Becky D
2 years ago

Okay cool

iLikePsych
2 years ago

G. Walsh went 23.3 and then 23.6 backs, and a 20.92 free split.
Strangely, Douglass went a 24.92 next to Walsh, wonder what happened

About Yanyan Li

Yanyan Li

Although Yanyan wasn't the greatest competitive swimmer, she learned more about the sport of swimming by being her high school swim team's manager for four years. She eventually ventured into the realm of writing and joined SwimSwam in January 2022, where she hopes to contribute to and learn more about …

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