Kate Douglass
Katherine Cadwallader Douglass is an American competitive swimmer. Douglass is a five-time Olympic medalist, including two golds, and has won 34 medals with 16 golds at the World Championships. Since 2024, she has been the world record holder for the short-course 200m breaststroke as well as being part of the 200 IM record team.
Douglass competed for the University of Virginia during her NCAA career, which lasted from 2019 to 2023. She helped Virginia win three NCAA Division I Championships in 2021, 2022, and 2023. As an individual, she has won 15 gold and 6 silver medals at the NCAA championships. Douglass won the Honda Sports Award as the best college female swimmer in 2022 and 2023.
Early life
Douglass was born in Pelham, New York, on November 17, 2001, to Allison and William Douglass. She has a younger sister, Abby, and a younger brother, Will. She attended Pelham Memorial High School and graduated in 2019. From age 7 to 15, Douglass swam for the Westchester Aquatic Club in New York. She swam with the Chelsea Piers Aquatic Club in Connecticut in for her last two years of high school, starting in 2017.Career
2016
2016 U.S. Olympic Trials
Douglass qualified for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials and swam the 50 m freestyle, 100 m breaststroke, 200 m breaststroke, and 200 m individual medley, placing 32nd, 48th, 77th, and 81st. She did not make the 2016 Olympic team.Douglass burst into the swimming spotlight as a high school sophomore in November 2016, when she broke Dara Torres' 34-year old 13–14 national age group record of 22.44 in the 50 yard freestyle, swimming a time of 22.32 at a high school state meet. A month later, at the 2016 U.S. Winter Junior Championships, Douglass tied Simone Manuel's 15–16 national age group record in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 22.04.
2017
2017 World Junior Championships
At the 2017 World Junior Championships as a member of the U.S. junior national team, Douglass finished eleventh in the semifinals of the 50 m freestyle, and did not qualify for the finals. She also swam in the preliminary heats of the 4×100 meter freestyle relay, which earned her a silver medal.2018
2018 Youth Olympic Games
In her junior year of high school, Douglass verbally committed to swim for the University of Virginia's class of 2023. Due to her national age group records in the 50 yard freestyle and her top-ranked times in the breaststroke and individual medley events, she was named SwimSwam's #2 girls' recruit in their class of 2019 rankings.At the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, Douglass placed seventh overall in the finals of the 50 m freestyle. She did not qualify for the finals in her other individual events.
2019
2019 U.S. National Championships
Douglass competed at the 2019 U.S. National Championships in July and August. She did not win a medal in any of her events.2020
2020 NCAA season
Although Douglass had a national age group record heading into college, she broke through as an elite swimmer in her freshman year at Virginia with coach Todd DeSorbo. At a dual meet in October 2019, Douglass swam a 22.28 second 50 yard freestyle and a 2:07.92 200 yard breaststroke, becoming only the third female swimmer to 22-point the 50 free and 2:07 in the 200 breast. She improved her time in the 200 breaststroke to 2:06.19 in January 2020. In November 2019, Douglass broke the ACC record in the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 1:52.84.At the 2020 ACC Championships, Douglass won the 200 yard individual medley title in a time of 1:51.36, making her the fastest freshman ever in the event and the fourth-fastest in history. Her swim also re-broke her existing conference record. She won a conference title in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 50.83 and placed third in the 200 yard breaststroke with a personal best time of 2:05.89 to help Virginia win their 16th ACC championship. Headed into the 2020 NCAA Championships, Douglass was the top seed in the 200 yard individual medley, the third seed in the 200 yard breaststroke, and the fourth seed in the 100 yard butterfly, but the meet was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021
2021 NCAA season
At the Tennessee Invitational in November 2020, Douglass swam a 200 yard individual medley in a time of 1:50.82 to become the third-fastest swimmer all-time in the event. Her time was three-tenths off of Ella Eastin's NCAA record of 1:50.62. She split a 21.96 while swimming the 50 yard butterfly on Virginia's 200 medley relay, then the fastest 50 butterfly time in history. Douglass swam a 47.77 100 yard freestyle and a 50.18 100 yard butterfly, both best times for her. During a time trial swim in February 2021, Douglass swam a 2:03.92 200 yard breaststroke, moving her up the rankings as the ninth-fastest performer of all time in the event.Douglass started off 2021 ACC Championships by breaking the NCAA record in the 200 medley relay with her teammates Caroline Gemlich, Alexis Wenger, and Lexi Cuomo. She swam the freestyle leg of the relay. The next day, she was upset by teammate Alex Walsh in the 200 yard individual medley. Despite being the favorite in the event coming into the race, Douglass swam a second slower than her best time with a time of 1:51.97 to finish second, while Walsh had an improvement of over two seconds to win with a time of 1:51.53. Douglass took home two ACC titles in 2021, winning the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 46.83 and the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 49.96.
2021 NCAA Championships
Going into the 2021 NCAA Championships, Douglass was the top ranked swimmer in the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, 200 yard individual medley, and 200 yard breaststroke. However, she opted for the sprint races, choosing to swim the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, and 100 yard butterfly at the meet. Douglass won her first NCAA title when she beat Michigan's Maggie Mac Neil by four-hundredths of a second in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 21.13. She finished second to Mac Neil in both the 100 yard freestyle and 100 yard butterfly, swimming times of 46.30 and 49.55 respectively, and was a part of four Virginia second-place relays: the 200 yard medley relay, the 200 yard freestyle relay, the 400 yard freestyle relay, and the 400 yard medley relay. Douglass helped Virginia win their first-ever team national championship.2020 U.S. Olympic Trials
At the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials that were held in June 2021, Douglass swam in four events: the 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, and 200 m individual medley. She started off trials by missing out on the Olympic team when she finished third in the 100 m butterfly, swimming a time of 56.56 that was 0.13 seconds behind second-place finisher Claire Curzan's 56.43. In the 200 m individual medley, Douglass finished second to Alex Walsh and swam a personal best time of 2:09.32, qualifying her for her first Olympic Games. Douglass finished seventh in the 50 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle, swimming times of 24.78 and 54.17.2020 Olympic Games
At the 2020 Olympic Games, Douglass swam the top time in both the preliminary and semifinal rounds of the 200 m individual medley. Douglass won the bronze medal by beating Abbie Wood by 0.11 seconds, being behind after the first 150 meters of the race and passing her in the freestyle leg in a personal best time of 2:09.04. Japan's Yui Ohashi won gold, and Douglass' teammate Alex Walsh won silver.2021 Short Course World Championships
At the Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi, Douglass won two gold medals in the 4×50 m and 4×100 m women's relays, as well as a bronze medal in the 200 m individual medley. In addition, she was awarded two silver medals for having competed in the preliminary heats for the women's 4×50 m medley and the mixed 4×50 m medley.2022
2022 NCAA season
At the 2021 Tennessee Invite, Douglass broke Sophie Hansson's ACC record in the 200 yard breaststroke, swimming a time of 2:03.58 to become the fourth-fastest performer ever. She bettered the time to 2:03.14 at the 2022 Cavalier Invite in February to become the second-fastest performer of all-time in the event.Douglass opted to swim only sprint events at the 2022 ACC Championships, and she won titles in the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, and 100 yard butterfly. Her time of 21.00 in the 50 free was the second-fastest performance of all time, trailing Abbey Weitzeil's then-NCAA record time of 20.90 by just 0.1 seconds. In addition, she was a part of Virginia's 200 freestyle, 200 medley, and 400 medley relays that broke NCAA, U.S. Open, and American records. She scored 96 individual points to help Virginia win their third-straight ACC team championship.
2022 NCAA Championships
At the 2022 NCAA Championships in Atlanta, Douglass won seven titles, three individual events and four relays. She began the meet by breaking the NCAA, U.S. Open, and American record in the preliminary rounds of the 50 freestyle, swimming a 20.87. In the finals, she lowered that record time to a 20.84, successfully defending her national title. The next day, she upset defending Olympic and NCAA champion Maggie Mac Neil as well as long course American record holder Torri Huske to win the 100 butterfly, swimming 49.04 to break Claire Curzan's American record of 49.24. On the final day of the meet, Douglass won the 200 breaststroke by over two seconds, clocking a 2:02.19 to break Lilly King's NCAA, U.S. Open, and American record. She became the first Division I collegiate swimmer, male or female, to win three NCAA titles in three different strokes.In addition to her individual efforts, Douglass was also a part of Virginia's national championship winning 200 free, 200 medley, 400 free, and 400 medley relays, with the latter two relays having broken NCAA, U.S. Open, and American records. Virginia won their second-consecutive NCAA team title by over 100 points. Douglass was named Swimmer of the Meet by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America, and commentator Rowdy Gaines described her swims as "the greatest single-meet performance in NCAA history." The CSCAA and swimming news outlet SwimSwam both named Douglass the 2022 NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year. In May, she received the 2022 Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving, an award to honor the top female athlete in each Division I NCAA sport.