INDIANAPOLIS – Gretchen Walsh set a world record in the women’s 100-meter butterfly Saturday night, posting a time of 55.18 seconds in a semifinal heat at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials.
Walsh was more than a half-second under world-record pace at the turn and held on to eclipse the mark of 55.48 set by Sweden's Sarah Sjöström at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
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“I definitely was feeling it," said Walsh, who considers herself a stronger swimmer in the short-course pool. “I thought I was dying. I didn’t know I was going that fast and, apparently, I took it out too fast.”
Not to worry. Walsh held her left hand over her mouth as she looked at the scoreboard in disbelief, a “WR” beside her name.
“There has been a little bit of a buzz out there,” she said. "I think going into tonight, like I knew it would take a (55) point-4 or I guess point-5, but I didn’t think I was going to do it tonight. I just knew I wanted to go a fast time and now here I am — a world-record holder.”
The 21-year-old Walsh, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, who competes for the University of Virginia, still has some work to do to claim a spot on her first Olympic team.
In the final Sunday night, she will face a strong field that includes Torri Huske, Regan Smith and Claire Curzan — all of them medalists from the Tokyo Games.
But Walsh feels she can go even faster.
“I still have room to grow in that race," she said.
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AP Sports Writer Michael Marot contributed to this report.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/summer-olympics