History was made on Wednesday as Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh became the first woman to go under 20 seconds in a 50 freestyle.
Walsh swam a 19.95 in the second leg of Virginia’s 200-yard freestyle relay. It’s the first time any woman has gone under 20 seconds in a 50 free.
19.95
Gretchen Walsh is the FIRST WOMAN UNDER 20 SECONDS with a 19.95 split in the second leg of the 200 Free Relay!!! pic.twitter.com/AnPxNf8U6k— Virginia Swimming and Dive (@UVASwimDive) February 21, 2024
Walsh would go on to swim a 20.57 in the individual event, resetting the NCAA and US Open record that she had set earlier that morning in prelims. The junior now owns the top-three times in the event, having also tied Maggie MacNeil with the third-fastest time.
She had previously gone a 20.19 split on a relay last month, although that time was unsuited. That time marks the second-fastest relay split ever.
Before Walsh, Anna Hopkin had been the closest to a sub-20 split, going 20.27 on a relay for Arkansas in 2020. The fastest that both Abbey Weitzeil – the first woman to go sub-21 in a 50 free split – ever went was 20.44.
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