Gretchen Walsh
Gretchen Claire Walsh is an American competitive swimmer and the world record holder in the 100 meter butterfly, 4×100 medley relay, mixed gender 4×100 medley relay, 50 meter butterfly, 100 meter butterfly, and 100 meter IM. She won the silver medal in the 100 meter butterfly at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where she also set the Olympic record in the 100 meter butterfly in the semifinals with a time of 55.38. She additionally holds one world junior record in the mixed gender 4×100 medley relay event, as well as American records in the 50 meter butterfly, 4×100 meter freestyle relay, 4×100 meter medley relay, 50 meter freestyle, 50 meter backstroke, 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, 100 yard butterfly, 100 yard backstroke, 4×50 yard freestyle relay, 4×50 yard medley relay, 4×100 yard freestyle relay, and 4×100 yard medley relay.
Walsh competed collegiately for the University of Virginia. In 2022, she became the fastest female freshman to swim the 50 yard freestyle in the NCAA, with a time of 20.95 seconds, and earned the NCAA title in the 100 yard freestyle, with a time of 46.05 seconds, and the national title in the 100 meter butterfly. In 2023, she won the women's NCAA Division I title in the 100 yard backstroke, with an American record time of 48.26 seconds, and the 100 yard freestyle, with a 45.61. In 2024, she won NCAA titles in the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, and 100 yard butterfly, setting NCAA records in all three events with times of 20.37 seconds, 44.83 seconds, and 47.42 seconds, respectively. She repeated these championships in 2025 with times of 20.49 seconds, 44.71 seconds and 46.97 seconds.
Early life and education
Walsh was born January 29, 2003, to mother Glynis Walsh and father Robert Walsh. She has an older sister, Alex, who is also a competitive swimmer. She attended Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Tennessee, where she competed scholastically for the high school team, setting national high school records in the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 yard freestyle and winning state championships titles in multiple events.In the autumn of 2021, Walsh started attending the University of Virginia, where she competes collegiately as part of the Virginia Cavaliers swimming and diving team.
Career
2015–2017: Early career & age-group success
In 2015, Walsh caught the attention of SwimSwam after achieving her first spot at a national competition for juniors when she was 12 years old. She became the youngest swimmer to qualify for the 2016 US Olympic Trials in 2016. In addition to being the youngest qualifier, at just 13 years of age, she was also the youngest swimmer to compete at the Olympic Trials, where she was 13 years, 4 months, and 13 days old at the time of competition. In the one event she qualified to compete in, the 50 meter freestyle, Walsh finished with a time of 26.55 seconds and placed 125th overall.In December 2017, Walsh broke her own National Age Group record in the 50 yard freestyle for the girls 13–14 age group with a time of 22.00 seconds in the final of the event at the Speedo Junior Nationals East Championships in Knoxville. Four months later, in March 2018 and when she was 15 years old, Walsh became the youngest female American swimmer to swim the 50 yard freestyle race in less than 22.00 seconds with a time of 21.85 seconds that also broke the former National Age Group records in the event for the girls 15–16 age group set by both Simone Manuel and Kate Douglass at 22.04 on different dates.
2018-2020: International breakout
In 2018, Walsh qualified for the 2018 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Suva, Fiji in four individual events, and was selected to swim on four relays as a result. This marked her first time representing the United States internationally.2018 Junior Pan Pacific Championships
In Fiji, Walsh won the gold medal and broke the Championships record in the 100 meter freestyle on the first night of competition with a time of 54.47 seconds, which lowered the previous Championships record of 54.60 seconds set by Simone Manuel in 2012 by over one tenth of a second. In addition to this first gold medal, Walsh won gold medals in the 4×100 meter medley relay, 4×100 meter mixed medley relay, 4×100 meter freestyle relay, and the 4×200 meter freestyle relay, a silver medal in the 50 meter freestyle, and placed 12th in the 200 meter freestyle and 16th in the 100 meter butterfly.2019
Competing as part of the Nashville Aquatic Club at the 2019 Speedo Southern Premier Meet in Knoxville, Walsh broke the girls 15–16 age group National Age Group record of 47.73 seconds in the 100 yard freestyle set in 2013 by Simone Manuel with a time of 47.49 seconds. In May 2019 SwimSwam ranked Walsh as the number one NCAA recruit from all swimmers across the United States in the high school graduating class of 2021.2019 World Junior Championships
Ahead of the start of competition at the 2019 World Junior Championships held at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary in August, Walsh was named as one of the five captains for the United States contingent of swimmers at the Championships by USA Swimming. On the second day of competition, August 21, Walsh won her first medal, a gold medal in the 4×100 meter mixed medley relay, swimming the freestyle leg of the relay in 53.60 seconds and helping the relay set new world junior and Championships records in the event with a time of 3:44.84. The next day she won her first individual medal of the competition, a gold medal in the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 53.74 seconds. She won her third gold medal later the same day, this time swimming the fourth leg of the 4×100 meter mixed freestyle relay in a time of 53.83 seconds to contribute to the relay's winning time of 3:25.92, which was also a new world junior record and Championships record for the event. Two days later, on August 24, Walsh won a gold medal in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay, splitting a time of 54.13 seconds for the lead-off leg of the relay to help the relay achieve the winning mark of 3:37.61. On August 25, the final day of competition, Walsh brought her total medal count to six gold medals by winning a gold medal in the 50 meter freestyle in a time of 24.71 seconds as well as winning a gold medal in the 4×100 meter medley relay with a finals relay time of 3:59.13.2020
In January, Walsh announced her verbal commitment to compete collegiately for the University of Virginia Cavaliers starting in the autumn of 2021. On February 7, Walsh set a new overall National High School record in the 50 yard freestyle in 21.59 seconds, which broke the former record of 21.64 seconds set in 2015 by Abbey Weitzeil. The next day, Walsh became the fastest female swimmer in American high school swimming history in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 46.98 seconds, breaking the former overall National High School record in the event set in 2015 by Abbey Weitzeil at 47.09 seconds. Later that year, in November at the 2020 U.S. Open Swimming Championships, she won the gold medal in the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 24.65 seconds and the silver medal in the 100 meter freestyle with a 54.37.2020 US Olympic Trials
At the 2020 US Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, which were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Walsh started competing on the first day of the second wave of the competition, swimming a time of 27.02 seconds in the 50 meter butterfly en route to her final mark of 58.58 in the prelims heats of the 100 meter butterfly, which ranked her eighth heading into the semifinals. In the semifinals of the 100 meter butterfly, Walsh swam a time of 58.46 seconds, ranked twelfth overall, and did not advance to the final of the event. For her second event of the trials, the 100 meter freestyle, Walsh placed 28th in the prelims heats with a time of 55.91 seconds. In her third and final event of the 2020 Olympic Trials, Walsh swam a personal best time of 24.64 seconds in the semifinals stage of competition of the 50 meter freestyle, which ranked her sixth overall ahead of the final. Walsh swam a 24.74 in the final of the event, placing fifth overall, and narrowly missed the 2020 US Olympic Team.2021–2022: First collegiate season
In one of the first dual meets of her collegiate career, Walsh helped the Virginia Cavaliers, defeat the California Golden Bears, winning four individual events, including the 100 yard backstroke in 51.15 seconds, and swimming on two relays. Her performances contributed to collegiate swimming being ranked number one for "The Week That Was" honor from Swimming World for the week of October 18, 2021. Walsh was also named as the "Women's Swimmer of the Week" by the Atlantic Coast Conference, ACC, for the week of October 19, 2021. Later in the month, at a dual meet between her school and Army, Walsh won the 200 yard freestyle. In January 2022, Walsh split a 23.04 for the lead-off leg of the 4×50 medley relay in a dual meet against North Carolina State University, becoming the fastest female American swimmer in the 50 yard backstroke.2022 ACC Championships
In her first race of the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference, ACC, Championships in February 2022, Walsh tied Kate Douglass for a new ACC record in the 50 yard freestyle with a 21.25 in the prelims heats. With her time of 21.25 seconds, Walsh also became the fastest female freshman swimmer in the history of the NCAA in the 50 yard freestyle, edging out former fastest female freshman, Simone Manuel in 2015, by 0.07 seconds. In the final of the 4×50 yard freestyle relay in the evening, she split a 20.58 on the fourth leg to help achieve a first-place finish in an American record time of 1:24.47. Walsh swam a 21.04 in the final of the 50 yard freestyle to become the fourth-fastest woman ever to swim the event in the NCAA, behind Abbey Weitzeil, Kate Douglass, and Erika Brown, and placed second. On day three, Walsh helped set another American record, this time in the 4×50 medley relay, with a new record time of 1:31.81 to win the event. Her split time of 22.82 for the backstroke leg of the relay was the fastest 50 yard backstroke time by a female swimmer in the NCAA. The following morning, she ranked third in the prelims heats of the 100 yard backstroke in 51.53, qualifying for the final. In the evening, she placed second with a time of 50.13 seconds, which was 0.72 seconds behind first-place finisher Katharine Berkoff. She followed up her individual performance with a split of 49.71 on the backstroke leg of the 4×100 yard medley relay, helping set new American and US Open records in the event at 3:22.34. Her time of 49.71 seconds was a personal best time and moved her up in rankings to sixth-fastest female swimmer in the event.Starting off her competition on the fifth and final day, Walsh qualified for the final of the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 47.07 seconds, which ranked her second overall in the prelims heats. In the final, she swam a personal best time of 46.86 seconds to take second place. Finishing off the meet, she anchored the 4×100 yard freestyle relay with a 46.35, helping win in an ACC record time of 3:08.22.