ROME (AP) 鈥� American swimmer Gretchen Walsh broke the world record in the women’s 50 meter freestyle on Sunday, just nine days after her training partner Kate Douglass had set a new mark in the sprint distance.
Walsh clocked 23.55 seconds at the Sette Colli meet in Rome to shave 0.04 seconds off the record in Indianapolis on June 19.
Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, who held the world record before Douglass, finished second on Sunday in 23.86.
Walsh and Douglass are former teammates at the University of Virginia and still train together. After seeing her mark bested so quickly, Douglass posted a photo of Walsh on Instagram with the text 鈥渨as fun while it lasted鈥� and a handshake emoji.
Walsh, who won two relay gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, also holds the short-course world record over 50 meters and the long-course mark in the 100 butterfly.
___
AP Summer Olympics:
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
