Walsh breaks her own 50 free world short course record

American swimmer Gretchen Walsh shattered her own personal record in the 50-meter freestyle short course event at the World Prep Pro-Am meet in Charlottesville, Virginia. Walsh's time of 22.75 seconds, achieved on Friday night in the 25-meter pool at the University of Virginia, bested her previous record of 22.83 seconds set during the 2024 short course world championships in Budapest.

This record-breaking performance came just two months after Walsh set a world record in the 100-meter individual medley event in the same pool. In addition to her 50-meter freestyle victory, Walsh won the 50-meter butterfly title on Friday with a time of 24.02 seconds, the sixth-fastest short-course time ever recorded in that event.

This performance surpassed the runner-up, Claire Curzan, by .83 of a second. As swimmers prepared for the December World Short Course Championships in Beijing, Walsh's accomplishments were set against the backdrop of the United States trials for the meet, scheduled to take place in two weeks in suburban Chicago. Walsh's impressive resume includes seven gold medals from the 2024 short course worlds, five individual titles, and three gold medals from last year's long-course worlds in Singapore. She also competed on two gold-medal relays at the 2024 Paris Olympics.