For Gretchen Walsh, a journey to a possible gold rush at World Swimming Championships
Walsh, 22, has broken the 100m butterfly world record on three occasions (including twice in one day). She won nine individual NCAA titles over four seasons at Virginia (25-yard pools) and claimed five individual golds at one World Short Course Championships (25-meter pool) last December.
In Olympic-size pools (50 meters), Walsh owns the world's best time this year in the 50m and 100m butterflies and the 50m freestyle. She's also third-fastest in the 100m free. Plus she is expected to swim on three U.S. relays that could take gold in Singapore.
Less than two years ago, Walsh was aware of those labeling her a 'bathtub swimmer' — that she had more success in smaller, short-course pools than in Olympic-size pools that require more strokes.
Nick Zaccardi,
Now she could win the most medals of any swimmer at these long-course worlds. Missy Franklin's female record six titles at a single edition (individuals plus relays) is not out of the question.
If it wasn't already clear, Walsh made her ambitions known upon being chosen the nation's top women's college athlete across all sports on June 30.
'It's weird now with my personal records being the fastest of all time,' she said virtually at the Honda Cup ceremony. 'It's been totally a different mental game for myself, and I've had to approach the sport differently, but I really enjoy a challenge. That's what sports are about. So I'm looking forward to breaking more world records, hopefully, and getting up on the podium at worlds because I've never made the top of the podium at a summer world championship, so that's a new goal of mine.'
The 6-foot-1 Walsh steadily climbed to this moment.
2016: Qualified for the Rio Olympic Trials nine days before the meet and was, at age 13, the youngest of more than 1,500 swimmers there.
2021: Fifth in the 50m free at the Tokyo Olympic Trials after her senior year of high school at Nashville's Harpeth Hall (notable alum: Tracy Caulkins, arguably the best all-around female swimmer in U.S. history).
2022: Missed World Championships team by one hundredth of a second in the 50m free.
2023: First World Championships team, bronze in the 50m fly, plus two relay medals.
2024: First world record (Olympic Trials, 100m fly), first Olympic team (four medals in Paris, including 100m fly silver and three relay medals).
Virginia coach Todd DeSorbo holds yearly goal-setting sessions with his swimmers (eight former, current or future Cavaliers made this world team).
Walsh has said her priority for this summer is to go faster in finals than in semifinals — which she didn't do in the 100m fly at any of the 2023 World Championships, the 2024 Olympic Trials and the Paris Games (where she swam an Olympic record time in the semis).
'That's my Super Bowl,' she told NBC Sports in the spring of semifinals. 'And then at finals I get nervous, or something just doesn't go right. I don't execute the race I wanted.'
Walsh, a finance major, took a stress and anxiety management class in Charlottesville.
'I wanted to take away lessons from that to help me balance my life and then also to enjoy my last year (of college), soak up the moments, be present,' she said on 'Kicking it with the Walsh Sisters,' a YouTube show she hosts with older sister Alex, also an Olympic swimming medalist.
DeSorbo switched up training following the Olympics, much to his pupils' approval: going from five practices per week in the long-course pool to one, with the vast majority in a 25-yard pool instead.
After Christmas, there were no practices in a 50-meter pool until after the NCAA Championships in March. After that, they transitioned to a majority of training in the bigger pool again.
In her first meet back in a 50-meter pool, Walsh broke 53 seconds in the 100m free for the first time (fifth-fastest American in history), broke her own American record in the 50m fly (second-fastest woman in history globally) and broke her own world record in the 100m fly in prelims and in the final.
'I think that the way we approached it really helped her,' DeSorbo said of the training changes, 'because there was no pressure. There was no expectation.'
Walsh's first individual event at worlds is her trademark: the 100m fly (final on Monday morning in the U.S.). In 2025, no other woman in the world has been within 1.5 seconds of Walsh's latest world record.
If she flies away from the field, it could be the start of an unforgettable week.
'Overall, I want to go best times, lower some records,' Walsh said, 'and get some gold.'
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