Walsh Backs Up WR With 55.31 Win Off A Jaw-Dropping Split, Carson & Fink Also Day 2 Winners
Gretchen Walsh practiced the art of equilibrium in the American selection cauldron to make her first Olympic Team USA with a scorching 55.31 victory in the 100m butterfly on day 2 at U.S. Trials, the courage of a 25.20 jaw-dropping, touch-too-much split paying off in a race with no room for mistakes.
On 25.98 in second at the turn, Torri Huske must have felt like she was having a bad day: she’d held the American record at 55.64 until Walsh shattered that and Sarah Sjostrom‘s 2016 World record of 55.48 with a 55.18 in her semi yesterday.
In fact, Huske was just where she needed to to for a ticket to Paris as second home in a lifetime best of 55.52. Walsh had simply opted to race to the turn just 0.09sec outside her own American dash record of 25.11 and play catch-me-if-you-can on the way home.
Huske gave it a good stab, on 29.59 to the end wall, to Walsh’s 30.11 but while it fell shy of making Team USA this day, the fight-for-the-right split of the podium and final was the 28.94 of Olympic 200m ‘fly podium placer of Tokyo 2020ne Regan Smith, who turned 1.48 sec adrift Walsh but then gained 1.17 to stop the clock in a lifetime best of 55.62, also inside the national mark that had stood to Huske before battle in Indianapolis.
In two races, the podium placers went from all-time No 4 (Huske), 10 (Walsh) and 15 (Smith) to all-time No 1 (Walsh), 3 (Huske) and equal 5th (Smith).
Now then, that’s what’s called a thrilling race. Here’s how it started, with Walsh, racing to Nashville Aquatic Club and coached by Todd de Sorbo at the University of Virginia, the slowest off her blocks with a ‘don’t-blow-this’ 0.74sec reaction time, and finished:
There was no master plan just the ordinary race-day kind of plan, the stuff she’d worked on and worked on again. Said Walsh: “I just stuck to my plan. At the end of the day, you have a race strategy and you can just fall on that instinctively.”
The Race:
What a journey since the 2021 Trials, at which Walsh swam slower in the 100m free (55.91) heats than she now swims the 100 ‘fly. Her trials times in 2021 on ‘fly were 58.58 in heats ands 58.46 in semis, while the promise of an Olympic debut in the making was to be seen in a 24.74 in the 50m free final that year. Now she’s 21 and has a stellar NCAA career in the vault, her investment at the University of Virginia starting to pay international dividends.
Much talk of Walsh’s ‘technique’, when natural physiology and flexibility explain the shots of the swimmer showing what looks like an arm on back to front, given the form and bend in the elbow. Walsh is something of a lady Albatross, Michael-Gross-style: she is 1m 88 tall and her wingspan is 1m 93.
Young swimmers and their coaches might always lean towards the wisdom of Bowman, Sweetenham, Carlile and many others down the years who have advised never to tell a child “swim like Phelps”, rather they should swim in a way that’s most efficient for their own measures and circumstance, just like Walsh does.
Walsh now has the fastest two times in history and heads to Paris the golden shot in the 100m butterfly, Huske, as things stand, a solid wager for delivering a USA 1-2 punch, which ever order the day delivers. As Sjostrom, a European champion at 14 on her way to a debut Olympic in 2008, and many more might tell Walsh: the power of now is all that counts at the Olympics.
Where Walsh, Huske & Smith Were & Where They Are Now – All-Time
| 1 | 55.18 (55.31 final) | Gretchen Walsh | USA | U.S. Trials, 2024 | Indianapolis | 15/06/2024 |
| 2 | 55.48 | Sarah Sjostrom | SWE | Olympic Games Rio 2016 | Rio de Janeiro | 07/08/2016 |
| 3 | 55.52 | Torri Huske | USA | U.S. Trials, 2024 | Indianapolis | 16/06/2024 |
| 4 | 55.59 | Maggie MacNeil | CAN | Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 | Tokyo | 26/07/2021 |
| 5 | 55.62 | Zhang Yufei* | CHN | Chinese National Championships (50m) | Qingdao | 29/09/2020 |
| 5 | 55.62 | Regan Smith | USA | U.S. Trials, 2024 | Indianapolis | 16/06/2024 |
| 5 | 55.72 | Emma McKeon | AUS | Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 | Tokyo | 26/07/2021 |
| 6 | 55.98 | Dana Vollmer | USA | Olympic Games London 2012 | London | 29/07/2012 |
| 7 | 56.07 | Liu Zige | CHN | 11th Chinese National Games | Jinan | 18/10/2009 |
| 8 | 56.08 | Rikako Ikee | JPN | 13th Pan Pacific Championships 2018 | Tokyo | 11/08/2018 |
| 9 | 56.11 | Angelina Kohler | GER | World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024 | Doha | 11/02/2024 |
| Previous | ||||||
| 4 | 55.64 | Huske | USA | 19th World Championships | Budapest | 19/06/2022 |
| 10 | 56.14 | Walsh | USA | TYR Pro Swim Series San Antonio 2024 | San Antonio | 12/04/2024 |
| 15 | 56.36 | Smith | USA | TYR Pro Swim Series Westmont 2024 | Westmont | 07/03/2024 |
Foster Tops The 400IM As Kalisz Returns To Defend The Olympic Crown
Last time round, it was Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland who took the USA tickets to the Olympics for the 400m medley. This day, Kalisz made it through to defend the crown in Paris but Carson Foster was the man of the moment with a 4:07.64, over 4:09.39 for Kalisz and 4:12.34 for Litherland.
Foster’s best is the 4:06.56 he clocked for the 2022 World title, while Kalisz has a best of 4:05.90 from his win at 2017 World titles.
Foster led from go to golden ticket to Paris:
Fink & Swanson Take The Tickets in 59.08 & 59.16
Nic Fink, World champion at the intercalated meet in Doha this year, reached the turn and the end wall first in the 100m breaststroke, out in 27.08, home in 32.00 for a 59.08 ticket to the Paris Olympics.
At the turn, Charlie Swanson was a snap for fourth with Michael Andrew in 27.73 before those opponents headed in different directions. Swanson roared home in 31.43, the swiftest second length in the race for a 59.16 pass to his Olympic debut, while Andrew headed to the back of the class in the sole over-the-minute effort in the field, 1:00.11.
Swanson overhauled the men closest to Fink at the turn, Josh Matheny ending up third in 59.23, Liam Bell fourth in 59.40.
In Semi Finals
Men’s 200m Free
Swim-off:
Women’s 100m breaststroke
Men’s 100m backstroke
What happens – What’s possible:
Women’s 200m freestyle
