Who is Gretchen Walsh, the queen of the Budapest World Championships with eleven world records?

In the absence of Léon Marchand, the undisputed star of the Short Course Swimming World Championships is Gretchen Walsh. With seven world titles and eleven world records broken, the swimmer from Nashville became in one week the world reference in short course. Focus on this gifted 21-year-old.

Early media exposure

Gretchen Walsh has quickly become a rising star in American swimming. At the Nashville Aquatic Club, in her hometown, she performs one after the other. At just thirteen years old, she competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials for the 2016 Rio Games, becoming the youngest swimmer to compete for a spot at the Olympics. At 15, she became the youngest woman to ever break the 22-second barrier in the 50m freestyle.

With her sister Alex Walsh, against whom she was often opposed at the University of Virginia, they caused a sensation and appeared on the cover of Swimming World Magazine in 2020, the monthly reference on swimming in the United States.

“It was rare to talk about athletes so young. Now aged 19 and 21 (in 2022), these two young women remind me of Tracy Caulkins, considered one of the greatest American swimmers. They embody the greatness of women’s swimming“, remembers Mel Stewart, founder of SwimSwamin its own media.

Model and swimsuit designer with her sister

On the NCAA university circuit, Gretchen Walsh particularly impresses with her casting and underwater technique. Taking advantage of their new status, the Walsh sisters became the first college athletes to partner with a nationally known swim brand to launch a collection. Thanks to this collaboration, they launched their own swimwear line and became the faces of their collection.

The “bathtub swimmer” at the Paris 2024 meeting

Very united, the two Walsh sisters aimed to qualify together for the Olympic Games. After a first failure at the Tokyo Games in 2021, Gretchen Walsh finally joins her eldest Alex in the American selection for the Paris Games.

In the French capital, Gretchen Walsh is seeking to shed her label of “bathtub swimmer”, she who excels in short course but has not yet demonstrated the same mastery in long course. However, at the Olympic Games, only the long course counts. The 1.85 swimmer had to adapt to the level of her teammates on the relays. She was selected for the mixed 4x100m medley relay, where the United States team won the gold medal.

The next day, during the women’s relay, also won by the United States, Gretchen Walsh recorded the second best time for her team. In addition to two gold medals and one silver in relay, accompanied by two world records, she obtained her first individual medal, silver, in the 100m butterfly.

She hits the jackpot in Budapest

In Budapest, Gretchen Walsh achieved the unthinkable: breaking eleven world records in the same edition. With seven titles at the Short Course World Championships, no one has done better. “Queen Walsh”, as one could read in the aisles of the Danube Arena, was the best in the freestyle (50 m, 100 m and the 4×100 m relay), in the butterfly (50 m and 100 m), but also in the 100m medley event (individual and relay).

These records also had a considerable financial impact. Each world record comes with a check for $25,000 from the International Swimming Federation. “I like the fact that records are celebrated with financial rewards, as swimming is not a very lucrative sport” she said.