Kate Douglass Swims Second Fastest 50 Free Of All Time

Yanyan Li
by Yanyan Li 21

February 16th, 2022 ACC, College, National, News

2022 ACC Swimming And Diving Championships

Just after coming off of an American record-breaking 200 free relay, Virginia’s Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh went 1-2 in the 50 free and set a slew of records in the process.

Douglass, who is the defending NCAA champion in the event, won the event in a personal best time of 21.00 that surpasses her previous ACC meet record of 21.10 that she had just set just hours before this race as the leadoff in the 200 free relay. Douglass’s time makes her the second-fastest woman of all time, only behind Abbey Weitzeil’s 20.90 American Record. 

Before Wednesday, Douglass’s personal best stood at 21.09 from NCAAs last year, which used to be a conference record before Wednesday.

Walsh finished just a few hundredths behind Douglass in a time of 21.04. Her time is also faster than the previous ACC record, and breaks her 21.25 freshman record that she set earlier in prelims. Walsh now has the fifth-fastest time and is the fourth-fastest performer in the 50 free.

Just in one day, Walsh’s personal best has gone down by nearly four-tenths of a second from the 21.40 that she swam in high school.

Walsh and Douglass tied for the top seed in prelims with a time of 21.25 that originally was an ACCs meet record, but did not stand for very long after Douglass broke that record twice during finals- first in her relay leadoff and next in her individual race.

All-Time Fastest Peformances in the Women’s 50 Yard Free:

  1. Abbey Weitzeil- 20.90
  2. Kate Douglass– 21.00
  3. Abbey Weitzeil- 21.02
  4. Erika Brown/Abbey Weitzeil- 21.03
  5. Gretchen Walsh– 21.04

Before the meet, Douglass had the fastest time of the season with a 21.27. Now, the UVA sprinter duo has the top four times in the event this season with three coming from one day.

UNC’s Grace Countie was third with a personal best time of 21.45 which was faster than the 21.60 that she swam to finish 5th at NCAAs last year. Her time is also the fifth-fastest time in the nation this season.

Top Times In The Women’s 50 Yard Free, 2021-22 Season:

  1. Kate Douglass– 21.00
  2. Gretchen Walsh– 21.04
  3. Kate Douglass/Gretchen Walsh– 21.25
  4. Kate Douglass– 21.27
  5. Grace Countie– 21.45
  6. Maggie MacNeil- 21.50

Katherine Berkhoff of NC State was fourth with a personal best of 21.66, while her teammate and defending ACC champion Kylee Alons was fifth in a time of 21.71 that was just 0.07 faster than her ACCs winning time of 21.78 last year.

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Ol' Longhorn
2 years ago

G. Walsh is just freakishly fast-twitch.

ACC fan
2 years ago

Kate has more time to take off if she just gets rid of her earrings causing drag. And can anyone explain why so many of the women (moreso than the men) are only wearing single caps with their goggles on the outside?

chris
2 years ago

she’s taking down the American record at NCAA’s. Unstoppable.

Joel Lin
Reply to  chris
2 years ago

Seems almost a given they will both be under 21.00 at NCAAs. One question is can Huske get there with them to make it three under the barrier in the same race?

It could happen.

oxyswim
Reply to  Joel Lin
2 years ago

I think Huske goes 2IM over the 50.

Swimmerj
2 years ago

In less than two weeks she has become the second fastest performer of all time in the 200 breast and the 50 free. Funny that she is second best in events to Lilly King and Abbey Weitzeil, who have probably never raced each other in an individual event. Would love to see her take both of these records, and very curious to see what she swims the rest of the weekend and at NCAAs.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Swimmerj
2 years ago

I’d be curious to know what her favorite event is of the many she’s a star in. (if she doesn’t say the 50 free, she needs a shrink)

PhillyMark
Reply to  Swimmerj
2 years ago

Match 1 2020 ISL 50 Breast

Peter Yu
Reply to  Swimmerj
2 years ago

Great point. Swimswam recently posted an article with top women’s 100 fly/back times combined. Wonder who else even gets close with all time 200 breast/50 free combos. I guess it would be heavily weighted towards 200 breastrokers…but still…🤔🤔🤔

Admin
Reply to  Peter Yu
2 years ago

It will definitely be heavily slanted toward the 200 breaststrokers.

I got the 200 breast top 1000 report to run first try this morning! Must be in cooldown mode after that because I’ve tried to run the 50 free a few dozen times and it’s erroring out.

The NCAA report runs much more cleanly. Based on NCAA report for 50 free + USA Swimming all events report for the 200 breast, the rank is:

Douglass – 144.14s
King – 145.81
Galat – 145.83s
Hansson – 146.01s
Larson – 146.65s
McSharry – 147.08s
Pickrem – 147.11s
Zoie Hartman – 147.71s
Walsh – 147.99s
Ella Nelson – 148.37
Dobler – 148.45s

So,… Read more »

Love to swim
2 years ago

Grace Countie is from UNC!

ArtVanDeLegh10
2 years ago

There’s no real good reason to rest or shave for this meet so it’ll be interesting to see if she swims faster at NCAAs.

I know many will say of course she isn’t rested. If that’s true then we should see at least a 20.8 at NCAAs, if not faster.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  ArtVanDeLegh10
2 years ago

She’s star-swimmer-conference-meet rested. Same with Alex Walsh, Kieran Smith, Luca, etc. She’ll have a drop for sure. She’ll have to in order to win.

Swimlikefishdrinklikefish
Reply to  ArtVanDeLegh10
2 years ago

I mean she swam super fast in the 200 breast a few weeks ago so ia seems she’s fast with or without rest

Swim mom
2 years ago

At least there is no huge poster of another swimmers accomplishments when congratulations are in order.

Grace
Reply to  Swim mom
2 years ago

huh?

Admin
Reply to  Grace
2 years ago

She’s mad that someone posted Caeleb’s best times in the comments of the 50 free article.

Katie
Reply to  Braden Keith
2 years ago

Oh I see. That actually makes less sense than the way I interpreted it lol

Katie
Reply to  Swim mom
2 years ago

She’s an Olympic medalist and that comes with name recognition and more eyes on her. UVA has three Olympic medalists so obviously people are paying more attention to them. She’s also swimming out of her mind and deserves props. You just sound salty.

jeff
2 years ago

Her leadoff in the relay was 21.10 not 21.04

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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