Gretchen Walsh Chasing Big Names in Quest for Most All-Time Top Performances in a Single Event
The last time Gretchen Walsh raced at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center, the University of Virginia product delivered a pair of world-record performances. At last year’s TYR Pro Series stop in South Florida, Walsh ripped a world mark of 55.09 during preliminary action in the 100-meter butterfly, and then took the global standard down to 54.60 in the final.
Will Walsh look just as sharp this year?
The 23-year-old is coming off a 55.22 performance in the 100 fly at last month’s China Open, so Walsh is positioned to produce additional speedy times in Fort Lauderdale. From an all-time perspective, the American star needs a pair of sub-55.48 efforts to increase her total to the 13-fastest swims in the history of the 100 butterfly. Yes, Walsh has been that dominant in her prime event, her world record sitting .88 quicker Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, the No. 2 performer of all-time.
In the historical rankings, only Great Britain’s Adam Peaty (100 breaststroke) and the United States’ Katie Ledecky (1500 freestyle) own more top times than Walsh in a single event. Peaty holds the 14-fastest times in the 100 breaststroke while Ledecky possesses the 12-fastest marks in the 1500 freestyle. Ledecky is entered in the 1500 freestyle on Wednesday and needs a time faster than 15:31.79 to raise her tally to 13.