WATCH: Gretchen Walsh Swims FAST 100 IM From a Push in Practice

Recently at a Virginia practice filmed by SwimSwam, coach Todd DeSorbo finished warmup with a 100 IM all out. You can see world record-holder Gretchen Walsh pushing the pace here, with DeSorbo ultimately clocking her at 52.7.

***EDITOR’S NOTE: Coach Todd’s watch is typically very quick. This practice is no exception. His philosophy is to start his watch when the swimmers’ feet pass the flags (instead of when they leave the wall) because he feels this simulates what they would go from a start off the blocks. It is not how most coaches time practice swims, but coach DeSorbo is consistent with this method and his results speak for themself.***

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J C
2 months ago

She is so smooth. And those underwaters, she just seems to accelerate so much before breakout. Elite.

swimfast
2 months ago

Thought the person two lanes down from her was a girl and then I saw a comment that it’s a guy

Last edited 2 months ago by swimfast
austinpoolboy
2 months ago

she beat the dude in the nearest lane to camera by what 2 seconds?

Fettuccine
Reply to  austinpoolboy
2 months ago

The 3 dislikes on the comment are from him and his two burners

Swim fan
2 months ago

I never realized before how heavily muscled she is

Dom E. Natrix
Reply to  Swim fan
2 months ago

muscle mommy

mds
2 months ago

But she sure slides through the water beautifully!!

mds
2 months ago

Frankly, she doesn’t look like she’s pushing it that hard.

Patrick
2 months ago

The DeSorbo watch thing cracks me up. I mean the guy can do whatever he wants obviously and ultimately practice times are meaningless, but I have never seen or heard of another coach that uses a watch that way.

Vaswammer
2 months ago

She’s broken 1:00 in the 100 breast. Would love to see her swim it in the coming Texas duals.

pea brain
Reply to  Vaswammer
2 months ago

the 100 breast? absolutely not… this meet is gonna be exciting and most likely fast lets not waste our time with her 10th best event or whatever it is

Greg17815
Reply to  pea brain
2 months ago

How is this comment getting downvoted so much? Putting her in the breastroke at the Texas meet is a ridiculous idea and the above commenter rightly called that out.

Vaswammer
Reply to  Greg17815
2 months ago

She already has the top times in the events she focuses on. There’s no need to prove any more before championship season. The UVa staff tinkers in these meets — she swims off events in them, like the 200 back at Tennessee, also a fast meet. But be outraged anyway.

Reply to  Vaswammer
2 months ago

Outraged no, continually baffled by people’s stupidity yes.

YSwim
Reply to  Vaswammer
2 months ago

GW also swam a 1:52 200IM last year. Would like to see her swim that this year.
And hoping for a 200 free leading off UVA 800 relay at ACC champs!

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

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