By Will Baxley on SwimSwam
2024 World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m)
- December 10-15, 2024
- Duna Arena – Budapest, Hungary
- SCM (25 meters)
- Meet Central
- Full Schedule
- Live Results
Gretchen Walsh wasted no time showing us what she’s capable of at the 2024 Short Course World Championships.
In her first swim of the meet, Walsh shattered the longstanding 50 fly world record, stopping the clock in 24.02. This takes a mind-boggling .36, or 1.48%, off Therese Alshammar’s 15-year-old world record.
All-Time Performers, Women’s SCM 50 Fly
- Gretchen Walsh, USA – 24.02 (2024)
- Therese Alshammar, SWE – 24.38 (2009)
- Kate Douglass, USA – 24.42 (2024)
- Ranomi Kromowidjojo, NED – 24.44 (2021)
- Sarah Sjostrom, SWE – 24.50 (2021)
- Claire Curzan, USA – 24.55 (2021)
- Melanie Henique, FRA – 24.56 (2019)
- Inge Dekker, NED – 24.59 (2014)
- Courtney Phillips – 24.63 (2018)
- Torri Huske, USA – 24.64 (2022)
This swim also breaks Kromowidjojo’s 24.44 Championship Record from 2021.
This is Walsh’s third world record this year. At the U.S. Olympic Trials, she brought the long course 100 fly world record down to 55.18. This October, at a UVA dual meet, Walsh became the first woman under 56 in the 100 IM, blasting a 55.98.
In her first time ever swimming the event in this course, Walsh earned the top spot for semifinals by over ¾ of a second. 2nd place finisher Arina Surkova swam 24.78. Walsh will have two more chances to potentially bring this record even lower tonight and tomorrow night.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Gretchen Walsh Shatters 50 Fly World Record, 24.02