What Gretchen Walsh Has Done in the 50 Butterfly is Mind-Boggling
With the second stop of the World Cup circuit slated for this weekend, an obvious question lingers: What will Gretchen Walsh do next?
The 22-year-old Walsh might be the greatest short-course swimmer in history, having blasted a bevy of records in yards and meters. At last year’s World Championships in Budapest, the American star collected seven gold medals and established individual world records in the 50 freestyle, 50 butterfly, 100 butterfly and 100 individual medley. A few months later, she powered the University of Virginia to its fifth consecutive NCAA championship while heavily editing the collegiate record book.
During the first leg of the World Cup tour in Carmel (Ind.), Walsh was typically dynamic. En route to the top of the points standings, Walsh secured victories in the 50 butterfly, 100 fly and 100 IM. The 50 fly was won in a world-record time, as Walsh blasted a mark of 23.72 for her two laps. It’s a time no one else has remotely approached, and the performance deserves a closer look.
When Walsh clocked 23.72 in the 50 fly, she broke her previous world record by .22, a sizable margin for a 50-meter race and a sport defined by hundredths. Walsh now owns the seven-fastest marks in history, with that total expected to grow by the end of the World Cup series. More, Walsh’s world record sits .66 faster than Sweden’s Therese Alshammar (24.38), the No. 2 performer of all-time. Alshammar posted her best time during the 2009 World Cup in Singapore, when the super-suit era was at its peak.
How Walsh’s skill in the 50 fly ranks historically among the best freestyle efforts at the distance provides greater perspective concerning its sensational nature. Her global standard in the 50 fly would rate 33rd all-time in the 50 freestyle. Among American athletes, only Walsh (22.83), Kate Douglass (23.05) and Abbey Weitzeil (23.44) have been faster, with Walsh’s time serving as the world record in the 50 free.
As the World Cup prepares to spend three days in the Chicago suburb of Westmont, there’s no doubt Walsh will be a headliner and could further rewrite the short-course record book.
