Walsh tops Douglass’ 50m freestyle world record

June 28, 2026 No Comments

Gretchen Walsh breaks Kate Douglass’ 50m freestyle world recordAssociated PressMultiple AuthorsJun 28, 2026, 05:09 PM ET

ROME — American swimmer Gretchen Walsh broke the world record in the women’s 50-meter freestyle Sunday, just nine days after her training partner Kate Douglass had set a new mark in the sprint distance.

Walsh clocked 23.55 seconds at the Sette Colli meet in Rome to shave 0.04 seconds off the record Douglass set in Indianapolis on June 19.

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Douglass breaks women’s 50m freestyle record

Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, who held the world record before Douglass, finished second on Sunday in 23.86.

Walsh and Douglass are former teammates at the University of Virginia and still train together. After seeing her mark bested so quickly, Douglass posted a photo of Walsh on Instagram with the text “was fun while it lasted” and a handshake emoji.

Walsh, who won two relay gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, also holds the short-course world record over 50 meters and the long-course mark in the 100 butterfly.