Gretchen Walsh returned to the pool where she broke the 100m butterfly record twice in one day a year ago ... and lowered the record again.
Walsh clocked 54.33 seconds at the Fort Lauderdale Open, breaking the world record of 54.60 that she set at the same venue last May 3.
“I didn’t go to the beach today because I was thinking maybe there could be something special tonight,” she told SwimSwam.
In all, Walsh owns the 13 fastest times in history — all swum since June 2024 — and has broken the world record four times.
She first lowered the world record at the 2024 Olympic Trials — from Swede Sarah Sjostrom’s 55.48 to 55.18 — and then did it again in Fort Lauderdale last May in prelims (55.09) and finals (54.60).
After her fourth world record Saturday, she is more than a second clear of the second-fastest performer in history (still Sjostrom’s 55.48) — the largest gap in any women’s or men’s 100-meter event.
Walsh is the 2024 Olympic silver medalist and 2025 World champion in the 100m fly.
Swimmers are preparing for this summer’s major international meets — the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California, and the European Championships in Paris, both in August.
The next top-level meet is a Tyr Pro Series stop in Sacramento, California, from May 20-23.
