Rising UVA senior Gretchen Walsh won the 100-meter butterfly event at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials on Sunday, a day after setting a new world record in a semifinal heat in the event.
Walsh, ranked #1 in the world in the 100 fly ahead of the trials, finished in 55.31 seconds in the final on Sunday, .21 seconds faster than the previous American-record holder, Torri Huske, who is ranked #2 in the world in the 100 fly.
Regan Smith, ranked #3 in the world, came in third with a time of 55.62 seconds.
Another UVA swimmer, Claire Curzan, placed in fourth, finishing with a time of 57.47 seconds.
The top two swimmers in each final make the U.S. Olympic team.
On Saturday, Walsh finished her semifinal heat in 55.18 seconds, bettering the previous world-record mark of 55.48 seconds set by Sarah Sjostrom in 2016.
UVA alum Paige Madden posted a second-place finish in the 400 freestyle with a personal best time of 4:02.08. Another alum, Leah Smith, who owns the UVA record in the event, was seventh (4:09.34).
Madden also secured a spot on the 200-meter freestyle relay team after finishing third in the 200 freestyle finals. Madden matched her personal best time in the event (1:56.36) during Monday night’s finals in Indianapolis.
Rising senior Emma Weber set a UVA record (1:06.10) to finish second in the 100-meter breaststroke. Weber beat out reigning Olympic gold medalist Lydia Jacoby by .27 seconds to capture runner-up honors.
The U.S. Olympic trials run through Sunday.
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Chris Graham
