“She's bad bad!” – Fans react to Kate Douglass beat the American and NCAA record
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Kate Douglass has had one of the best starts of the 2023 swimming season. She started off by beating an American and an NCAA record of 200 yards in the recently concluded NCAA Swimming Championships.
USA Swimming's official Instagram shared a post congratulating new record holder Kate Douglass by writing in their caption:
"An American & NCAA record by 1.7 SECONDS?! No woman had ever gone under 1:50 in the 200y IM until just now, when @kaatedouglass popped a 1:48.37."
A fan commented on the post,
"She's bad bad!"
Fans react to Kate Douglass's incredible record-breaking performance
Just after USA Swimming shared the post, a hefty number of comments surged congratulating the new record holder of the 200-yard Individual Medley.
The first set of comment collection includes remarks from the 12-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin, six-time Olympic gold medalist Amy Van Dyken, fellow American Swimmer Ella Eastin, and famous swimming photographer Mike Lewis.
"Incredible"
"WOW!!! Huge congrats. She is simply awesome!!!"
"You go girl @kaatedouglass been waiting to see that barrier broken"
"Aw thank youu!!!"
"Amazing"
Another set of comments was all about people being astonished by the incredible milestone achieved by the 21-year-old Kate Douglass.
"My first reaction was just: 'what.'"
"That is incredible!!!!!!!!!!"
"Holy shit!"
"she always delivers"
The next set of comments was filled with congratulatory messages and appreciation.
"Wow! Congrats Kate!"
"Boom!"
"Wooooooow!!!!"
"What is this?"
"Beast Mode!!"
Who is Kate Douglass?
On November 17, 2001, American swimmer Kate Douglass was born in Pelham, New York. Her parents' names are William and Allison Douglass. She is the eldest child in the family. She has two siblings, a brother named Will Douglass and a sister named Abby Douglass. She graduated in 2019 from Pelham Memorial High School.
At the start of her career, Douglass swam with the Westchester Aquatic Club. but in 2017, she switched to Chelsea Piers Aquatic Club.
Her career has been full of highlights from the very beginning. In 2016, when she was a high school sophomore, she went on to reset Olympian Dara Torres's 34-year-old record in the 3-14 National Age Group. She clocked 22.32, which was 0.12 seconds faster than Dara's record, swimming in the 50-yard freestyle.
And it wasn't long until she tied Simone Manuel's 15-16 National Age group record by clocking 22.04 in the 50-yard freestyle.
However, when she first went for the U.S. Olympic trials in 2016, she did not qualify for the Rio Olympic team.
The following year, i.e., in 2017, she competed in the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships and won silver with the US Junior team in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay.
Kate Douglass finally made it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and did not disappoint. She won a bronze medal in the 200-meter medley. Later on, she had an amazing 2021 FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships, where she won five medals overall.