American swimmer Gretchen Walsh shatters own 100m butterfly world record for fourth time
Walsh lowers her personal best to 54.33 seconds, holding more than a third of all sub-56-second swims in the event's history.
American swimmer Gretchen Walsh has lowered her own world record in the women's 100m butterfly to 54.33 seconds at the Fort Lauderdale Open in Florida. This achievement marks the fourth time she has broken the record, improving upon her previous mark of 54.60 seconds set in the same venue last May.
Walsh clocked the new time on Saturday, slicing 0.27 seconds off her previous record. She broke the record twice in a single day during last year's meeting at the same venue, establishing a pattern of consistent performance improvement in the event.
The 23-year-old swimmer is now more than a second faster than the second-fastest woman in the event's history, Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom, whose best time stands at 55.48 seconds. Walsh was also more than four seconds faster than world junior record holder Claire Curzan, who took silver with a time of 58.44 seconds.
Currently, Walsh owns more than a third of all sub-56-second swims in the event's history, a statistic that underscores the depth of her dominance in the discipline. Following the feat, she joked about making the world record an "annual thing" on social media, expressing gratitude for the crowd and the pool in a post on Instagram.
Other results from the Fort Lauderdale Open included France's Leon Marchand, who won the 200m breaststroke in 2:09.04 and the 200m individual medley in 1:57.28. Katie Ledecky won the women's 800m freestyle in 8:12.66, finishing more than 30 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.
