Gretchen Walsh won the silver medal in the 100 meter butterfly at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where she set the Olympic record in the 100 meter butterfly in the semifinals with a time of 55.38.
32 Facts About Gretchen Walsh
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Gretchen Walsh has an older sister, Alex, who is a competitive swimmer.
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Gretchen Walsh attended Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Tennessee, where she competed scholastically for the high school team, setting national high school records in the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 yard freestyle and winning state championships titles in multiple events.
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In 2015, Gretchen Walsh caught the attention of SwimSwam after achieving her first spot at a national competition for juniors when she was 12 years old.
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Gretchen Walsh became the youngest swimmer to qualify for the 2016 US Olympic Trials in 2016.
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In Fiji, Gretchen Walsh won the gold medal and broke the Championships record in the 100 meter freestyle on the first night of competition with a time of 54.47 seconds, which lowered the previous Championships record of 54.60 seconds set by Simone Manuel in 2012 by over one tenth of a second.
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Ahead of the start of competition at the 2019 World Junior Championships held at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary in August, Gretchen Walsh was named as one of the five captains for the United States contingent of swimmers at the Championships by USA Swimming.
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In January, Gretchen Walsh announced her verbal commitment to compete collegiately for the University of Virginia Cavaliers starting in the autumn of 2021.
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On February 7, Gretchen Walsh set a new overall National High School record in the 50 yard freestyle in 21.59 seconds, which broke the former record of 21.64 seconds set in 2015 by Abbey Weitzeil.
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The next day, Gretchen Walsh became the fastest female swimmer in American high school swimming history in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 46.98 seconds, breaking the former overall National High School record in the event set in 2015 by Abbey Weitzeil at 47.09 seconds.
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At the 2020 US Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, which were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gretchen Walsh started competing on the first day of the second wave of the competition, swimming a time of 27.02 seconds in the 50 meter butterfly en route to her final mark of 58.58 in the prelims heats of the 100 meter butterfly, which ranked her eighth heading into the semifinals.
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In one of the first dual meets of her collegiate career, Gretchen Walsh helped the Virginia Cavaliers, defeat the California Golden Bears, winning four individual events, including the 100 yard backstroke in 51.15 seconds, and swimming on two relays.
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Gretchen Walsh's performances contributed to collegiate swimming being ranked number one for "The Week That Was" honor from Swimming World for the week of October 18,2021.
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Gretchen Walsh was named as the "Women's Swimmer of the Week" by the Atlantic Coast Conference, ACC, for the week of October 19,2021.
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Later in the month, at a dual meet between her school and Army, Gretchen Walsh won the 200 yard freestyle.
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Gretchen Walsh's time of 49.71 seconds was a personal best time and moved her up in rankings to sixth-fastest female swimmer in the event.
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Gretchen Walsh ranked 22nd in the preliminary heats of the 100 meter freestyle on day one of the 2022 US International Team Trials in Greensboro, North Carolina, in April, not advancing to the final with her time of 55.57 seconds.
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Gretchen Walsh placed fourth in the final with a personal best time of 25.97 seconds.
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Gretchen Walsh placed fifth in the final, lowering her personal best time to a 27.78.
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Gretchen Walsh decided not to compete in the event in the B-final.
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Gretchen Walsh placed third in the final with a personal best time of 24.53 seconds, just 0.03 seconds behind the first-place finisher.
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At the 2022 Tennessee Invitational in Knoxville in November, Gretchen Walsh won the 50 yard freestyle with a personal best time of 20.94 seconds.
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Gretchen Walsh achieved a personal best time of 49.89 seconds in the 100 yard butterfly in the preliminaries in the event.
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Gretchen Walsh would go on to lower this record shortly after.
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Gretchen Walsh lowered her American record and tied the US Open and NCAA records in the women's 50 freestyle during the first day of the Tennessee Invitational.
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At the 2024 NCAA Championships, Gretchen Walsh swept all seven of her events, contributing strongly to the Virginia Cavaliers' victory, their fourth consecutive one.
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Gretchen Walsh concluded her meet by splitting a 45.17 on the third leg of Virginia's 4x100yd free relay, marking the fastest recorded split in that relay's history.
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Gretchen Walsh concluded the meet with a perfect 7-for-7 first places, including three individual NCAA records, one relay NCAA record, and pool records in all seven events.
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At the 2024 United States Olympic trials in June, Gretchen Walsh set a new world record in the long course 100-metre butterfly with a time of 55.18, breaking the former record of 55.48 set by Sarah Sjostrom at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
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At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Gretchen Walsh finished with four medals, two gold and two silver.
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Gretchen Walsh took silver in the 100m butterfly, finishing in a time of 55.63, just behind her teammate Torri Huske.
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Gretchen Walsh made the final of the 50m freestyle, finishing 4th in a time of 24.21, and of the 10m0 freestyle, where she finished 8th with a time of 53.04.