Watch: Torri Huske Rallies Past Gretchen Walsh for 100 Fly Title in World-Leading 56.18

2023 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• June 27 – July 1, 2023
• Indianapolis, IN
• Indiana University Natatorium
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet (updated version, 6/26)
• Live Results
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• How To Watch
• Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Live Recap

Just how fast was the women’s 100-meter butterfly final on Thursday night at the U.S. National Championships? Kate Douglass clocked the third-fastest time in the world this season and still didn’t crack the top two who get to swim the event at next month’s World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

WOMEN’S 100 FLY — FINALS

• World Record: 55.48, Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) — 2016
• American Record: 55.64, Torri Huske (USA) — 2022
• U.S. Open Record: 55.66, Torri Huske (USA) — 2021
• Championship Record: 55.66, Torri Huske (USA) — 2021
• World Junior Record: 56.43, Claire Curzan (USA) — 56.43
• World Aquatics ‘A’ Cut: 58.33
• 2022 U.S. Trials Top 2 Time: 56.35
• 2022 Worlds Medal Time: 56.41

Top 8:

1. Torri Huske (AAC) — 56.18
2. Gretchen Walsh (NAC) — 56.34
3. Kate Douglass (NYAC) — 56.43
4. Claire Curzan (ALTO) — 56.61
5. Kelly Pash (TXLA) — 57.53
6. Alex Shackell (CSC) — 57.59
7. Olivia Bray (TXLA) — 57.64
8. Gabi Albiero (UOFL) — 58.64

The top three finishers in this event registered the top three times in the world this season as China’s Zhang Yufei (56.48) previously held the fastest mark globally before today.

Defending world champion Torri Huske was out in 25.89, under Sarah Sjostrom‘s world-record pace (26.01), but she was still .21 seconds behind a blazing Gretchen Walsh (26.58). Huske outpaced Walsh on the back half, 30.29 to 30.66, to seal the comeback victory by just .16 seconds. Huske’s winning time of 56.18 was only about half a second off her American record of 55.64 she fired off en route to gold at last year’s World Championships.

Check out the tight finish below:

A single race just came down to the top-3 times in the world this year.

👉 Torri Huske, 56.18
👉 Gretchen Walsh, 56.34
👉 Kate Douglass, 56.43#Phillips66Nats | 🎥: @peacock x @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/lSLhnJLoth

— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) June 30, 2023

Walsh’s runner-up finish in 56.34 represented a new lifetime best, shaving nearly half a second off her previous-best 56.73 from the NCAP Invite earlier this month. It would have earned her bronze at last year’s World Championships. The 20-year-old University of Virginia standout booked her first spot on a senior international team on Tuesday in the 100 free with a third-place finish in 53.11 before breaking Huske’s American record in the 50 fly (25.11) on Wednesday.

Douglass also delivered a best time en route to her third-place finish in 56.43, less than a tenth of a second behind her former Cavalier teammate. The 21-year-old Virginia graduate dropped .13 seconds off her previous-best 56.56 from the 2021 Olympic Trials.

Huske’s Stanford teammate, Claire Curzan, placed fourth with a 56.61, just a couple tenths off her personal-best 56.36 from last year’s International Team Trials. She posted the fastest back half in the field with a 30.03 split.

It will be no easy feat to make the podium next month against competitors such as Yufei, Maggie MacNeil, and Emma McKeon, but Huske and Walsh certainly put themselves in that conversation with their swims today. The Americans haven’t put a pair on the podium in this event in more than 40 years since the 1982 World Championships in Guayaquil, where Mary T. Meagher and Melanie Buddemeyer took gold and bronze, respectively.