American swimmer Kate Douglass set the world record in the 50-meter freestyle twice in a single day at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California. The performance was capped by a 23.19-second swim in the final, which lowered her earlier mark by 0.3 seconds.
Kate Douglass Breaks 50m Freestyle World Record Twice in One Day
Douglass, who was named the women’s swimmer of the meet, said that she had to do a few double takes and was not really sure she was seeing that right, adding that the time just seemed crazy fast to her.
Preliminaries and the Final Duel
During the event’s preliminaries, Douglass swam the distance in 23.49 seconds, which was 0.06 seconds better than the previous mark. That morning swim set up a final duel between Douglass and former world record holder Gretchen Walsh.
Definitely wasn’t expecting that,
Douglass said after breaking the record in the morning. Douglass stated that she definitely knew she could do a 23 that morning but was not expecting to go the world record that morning, noting she put together a good race, though she still thought there were a lot of things she could clean up a little bit.
In the final, Walsh secured the silver medal with a time of 23.74 seconds. Despite cleaning up enough to lower her time significantly in the evening, Douglass noted that she had long finishes in both races.
Douglass said that when she saw she went faster than the morning, she was kind of shocked because she knew she didn’t have the best finish ever.
Reflecting on the rivalry, Walsh noted that the battle for the world record is emotionally draining. Walsh added with a smile that she was kind of happy to be the underdog now again.
Additional Records and Medal Count
The freestyle mark was Douglass’s second individual world record of the meet. She previously led the Americans to a world record in the 4×100 mixed medley relay, splitting a 51.01 on a relay start. On the Friday night prior, she narrowly missed another individual world record in the 100-meter freestyle by one-hundredth of a second while leading off the 4×100 freestyle relay in 51.69 seconds.
She said that just barely missing the world record the previous night kind of fueled her a little bit for today.
Earlier in the summer, Douglass and Walsh had traded the 50 free world record, with Douglass swimming it in 23.59 in June. At the Pan Pacific Championships—the biggest meet of the year for swimmers in the Americas and Oceania—Douglass accumulated a total of six medals. Her hardware haul included gold in the mixed medley relay and silver in the 50-meter butterfly.
Versatility and Physical Toll
At 24 years old, Douglass is regarded as one of the most versatile swimmers globally, capable of producing world-class times in events ranging from the 50 free to the 200 breaststroke. Across her past two Olympic Games, she has earned five medals, including an individual gold in the 200 breaststroke.
The demanding schedule at the Pan Pacific Championships took a physical toll. Describing her experience on the blocks, Douglass admitted that she felt she was going to throw up and pass out on the block there.
She said that she was really just happy to be done, but was also really proud of herself.
