U.S. Open Races to Watch (Women’s): Gretchen Walsh, Regan Smith Hoping for Strong Finish to 2025
Most members of the U.S. women’s swim team that is the most dominant and well-rounded team in the world will race one final long course meet for 2025 at this week’s U.S. Open. While big names such as Katie Ledecky and Torri Huske have passed on this competition, core swimmers Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass and Regan Smith are all entered in at least four individual events apiece while Canadian star Summer McIntosh, the consensus top swimmer in the world for the past two years, will make an appearance.
Many members of the U.S. team were battling sickness at this summer’s World Championships, but the team still collected 17 individual medals in women’s events. That level of talent will make it challenging for any younger swimmers seeking a breakthrough in advance of the 2028 Olympics, but some will begin positioning themselves this week. Here are some of the events where big names have something at stake for the U.S. Open.
Women’s 50 & 100 Freestyle
When she competed at the World Championships, Gretchen Walsh managed strong performances in the sprint butterfly events on the way to world titles, finishing not far off her best times. But she struggled in the freestyle races relative to her times from U.S. Nationals. Illness forced Walsh to scratch the 100 free and pull out of the U.S. women’s 400 free relay, and in the 50 free final, she ended up fourth in 24.40. That was a long way off the 23.91 she swam at Nationals to tie the American record. Moreover, that time has held up as the world’s top mark in the event. Walsh’s top time in the 100 free, 52.78, is ranked fourth globally and would have been quick enough to reach the World Championships podium.
The U.S. Open will give Walsh a chance to fire off big performances in her usual sprint events, and given her propensity to challenge records in-season (including during her college days at the University of Virginia and at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim Series this May), it would not be a surprise to see the 22-year-old hit some world-ranking-busting times to close out 2025. She will have tough competition in the freestyle events; while Torri Huske is absent from the psych sheet, Walsh will be joined by Kate Douglass and Simone Manuel atop the events. Douglass, Walsh’s training partner at the University of Virginia, recently broke the short course world record in the 100 free, while the veteran Manuel was the 2016 Olympic co-champion in the 100-meter race.
Further down the psych sheet, watch for big performances from Anna Moesch, a Virginia sophomore who made her senior international debut as a relay swimmer at Worlds and has impressed so far this college season. Moesch owns a best time of 53.54 in the 100 free, but she has already crushed her best times in yards this fall, putting her at No. 1 in the national standings in the 100 and 200-yard free. Also look for a jump from Liberty Clark, an Indiana freshman who has made a quick impact in the freestyle races this season.
Regan Smith — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Women’s 50, 100 & 200 Backstroke
Regan Smith has been the top female backstroker in the country for the better part of the last decade. This year, she won silver medals in all four of her individual events at the World Championships (all three backstroke races plus the 200 fly), and she is coming off a World Cup circuit in which she matched or surpassed her short course meters best times in the 100 back, 200 back and 200 fly. This week, she will compete in the pool that is now her training home, and perhaps more elite times could be on offer.
In the sprint backstroke races, Smith will have to deal with Katharine Berkoff, the world champion in the 50-meter event and the bronze medalist behind Kaylee McKeown and Smith each of the past three summers in the 100. When looking at entry times, there is no one close to Smith’s level in the 200 back, especially with Worlds bronze medalist Claire Curzan not in attendance, but veterans Phoebe Bacon and Rhyan White have won international spots in the event at Smith’s expense in the past. Additionally, watch for Leah Shackley, the NC State sophomore who won two backstroke golds and one silver at the World University Games. Shackley went 2:05.99 on the way to WUGs gold in the 200 back, securing her place at next year’s Pan Pacific Championships in the process.
Women’s 200 Butterfly
This meet will mark the first competition for Summer McIntosh since winning five individual medals, four of them gold, at the World Championships. Since then, McIntosh has moved her training to Austin to work with Texas men’s coach Bob Bowman and missed the World Cup circuit due to an undisclosed illness. At the U.S. Open, McIntosh will race the 400 free in a field missing American distance star Katie Ledecky while she tests herself in unfamiliar 100-meter races of butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke.
But in the 200 fly, the meet’s last women’s event, we will see the two best swimmers in the world facing off. This is a rare event where the world record has eluded McIntosh, her best time of 2:01.99 just 0.18 short of the legendary 2009 record belonging to Chinese swimmer Liu Zige. Within the past four years, Regan Smith is the only other swimmer to swim below 2:05. Smith has only challenged McIntosh on one occasion, in last year’s Olympic final. Now, the two are training partners under Bowman’s watch. Also in this field are American challengers Alex Shackell and Lindsay Looney, another member of Bowman’s group, as well as Lana Pudar. Now competing for Virginia, Pudar was the 2022 European champion in the 200 fly while representing Bosnia and Herzegovina, and she has multiple global-level medals in the event.
