If UVA Swimming was a country, it would be 11th in the world in the 2024 Paris Olympics medal count.
The haul finished at 11 with three Virginia swimmers winning gold on Sunday in the 4×100 Medley Relay on the final day of the swimming competition.
Senior Gretchen Walsh, junior Emma Weber and alumna Kate Douglass all collected gold medals as Team USA won the event in a world-record time of 3:49.63.
Walsh swam the butterfly leg of the final, posting a 55.03, tying for the fastest 100 Fly split in history. Reagan Smith opened the relay by setting an Olympic record in the breaststroke, giving Team USA the early lead, which they continued to build on throughout the race. Lilly King and Torri Huske rounded out the foursome in the final.
The mark broke the world record of 3:50.40 set by the United States at the 2019 World Championships and passed the previous Olympic record of 3:51.60 set by Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
This was Walsh and Huske’s second relay gold and world record in as many days. On Saturday night, they swam the fly and free legs in the record-setting Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay.
Weber swam the breaststroke leg in prelims and Douglass the anchor freestyle leg to also earn gold medals as relay team members.
The relay was Walsh’s second event of the day. She swam in the final of the 50 Free to start the session, finishing fourth with a time of 24.21.
Virginia swimmers leave Paris with 11 total medals (five golds, five silvers, and a bronze) earned by four swimmers.
Walsh won four medals, two golds and two silvers, helping set two relay world records and posting an Olympic record in the 100 Fly.
Douglass has won medals with two golds and two silvers and an American record in the 200 Breast.
Paige Madden won a silver and a bronze.
This gold was Emma Weber’s first Olympic medal.
The relay gold also helped Team USA top the gold medal table in the swimming competition. The United States entered the day trailing Australia 7-6 in the gold medal tally, but a men’s win in the 1500 Free tied the two nations at seven, with the women’s relay gold pushing Team USA ahead.
The United States topped the total swimming medal count with 28 to Australia’s 18.
Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo was the head coach of the U.S. Women’s Team, his first time serving in that capacity after being an assistant coach at Tokyo 2020.
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Chris Graham
