University of Virginia impress at Atlantic Coast Championships as Gretchen Walsh swims 3rd-fastest split in 800m relay
Gretchen Walsh helped Virginia Women seal victory in the 800m freestyle relay at the 2024 ACC Swimming and Diving Championships, clocking 1:40.23 and registering the third-fastest swim of all time since 2018. Virginia Women now have the title of the second-fastest 800 freestyle relay in history.
Walsh split 22.24/24.91 to go 47.15 to the feet, fell off the pace, but came back fast to touch at 1:40.23. She just fell short of beating Mallory Comerford's record of 1:39.89 at the 2018 NCAAs.
Virginia Swimming and Dive highlighted their achievement on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote:
UVA sets ACC, Meet and Pool records in the 800 free relay (6:46.28). Gretchen Walsh's leadoff time of 1:40.23 sets UVA School mark for 200 Free. That ranks No. 3 all-time." #GoHoos
Walsh achieved this outstanding feat after not having participated in this event in over two years. Her previous best time of 1:58.12, as per SwimSwam, is about four years old. Walsh, 21, believes everything is going right for her. Speaking to reporters during the Cavalier Invite, where she clocked 1:52.34 in the 200 IM, she said :
"It would be hard to find something that's going wrong." (Swim Swam)
The young swimmer shared that she has been getting a lot stronger in the weight room.
"I feel like I've just been really enjoying myself at practice my mentality around swimming has gone a lot better."
University of Virginia's Kate Douglass and Claire Curzan impressed at World Aquatics Championships
Kate Douglass also brought the University of Virginia into the spotlight, touching 23.91 in the women's 50 freestyle at the 2024 World Aquatic Championships. She shattered Simone Manuel's record of 23.97s, which she achieved at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest.
Team USA described Douglass as "unreal", tweeting:
"KATE DOUGLASS IS UNREAL. Her 23.91 gets her a silver medal in AMERICAN-RECORD time"
Douglass, 22, emerged as the fastest US female swimmer in history at the event, and the second US woman to win an individual medal in three different strokes at one event.
Moreover, Claire Curzan was the only second woman, as per Olympics.com, to complete the backstroke treble at the World Championships. She got her third backstroke gold, clocking 2:05.77. The 19-year-old won a fourth individual medal — a silver — in the 100m butterfly.
World Aquatics shared Curzan's achievement on their social media account as she completed the backstroke treble, claiming gold in the Women's 200m backstroke with a time of 2:05.77.