American Gretchen Walsh wins 50-meter butterfly, second world championship gold

New York Times

a day ago

Gretchen Walsh won the 50-meter butterfly Saturday at the swimming world championships, kicking off a day of American medal potential with her second gold of the event.
Walsh finished in 24.83 seconds in the one-pool-length sprint, beating Australia's Alexandria Perkins (25.31) and Belgium's Roos Vanotterdijk (25.43) to start one of the most anticipated days of the swimming program at these World Aquatics Championships.
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Walsh — a short-course pool (25-yard) star who is proving quite adept at long-course pools too — also won the 100-meter butterfly event earlier this week.
The 50-meter butterfly is among the events that will make their Olympic debut in Los Angeles, and that's good news for Walsh. She has the eight fastest times in the event this year.
Five-time Olympic gold medalist Kaylee McKeown of Australia continued her reign as the sport's dominant backstroker, once again beating American Regan Smith in a head-to-head showdown. McKeown took gold in the 200-meter event, pulling away from Smith in the final 50 meters, just as she did in the 100-meter event earlier in the week.
McKeown won in 2:03.33, a world-championship record time. Smith finished in 2:04.29 for silver. American teammate Claire Curzan took bronze in 2:06.04.
'I was really jazzed with the time,' Smith, who also took silver in the 100-meter backstroke, said in an interview on Peacock after the race. 'I was almost exactly a second off my best time, so … it was a really great swim for me.'
In the men's 50-meter freestyle, Olympic champion Australian Cameron McEvoy outsprinted everyone to gold in 21.14 seconds. Great Britain's Ben Proud won silver in 21.26, and American Jack Alexy earned bronze in 21.46.
Three finals are still to come Saturday, starting with the men's 100-meter butterfly. Switzerland's Noe Ponti was the top qualifier out of the semis. Olympic silver medalist Josh Liendo and bronze medalist Ilya Kharun, both from Canada, are medal contenders here as well.
Later, we'll see the women's 800-meter freestyle final, the much-hyped showdown between Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh. Ledecky qualified first out of the heats, McIntosh third, with Australia's Lani Pallister in second.
Ledecky, the American who is the most decorated women's swimmer in history, will try to continue her dominance in the event against the rising Canadian star. Ledecky has won the 800 all 10 times she has contested it on the Olympic or world championship stage and reset her own world record in June. McIntosh beat Ledecky in the 400-meter earlier this week, is 3-for-3 in her races in Singapore, and in May posted the third-best time ever in the event.
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The final medal event Saturday is the mixed 4×100-meter freestyle relay, where the Americans were the top qualifiers out of the preliminary heats. Three semifinals are also scheduled — the 50-meter events in the women's breaststroke, women's freestyle and men's backstroke.
Saturday night Eastern time (Sunday morning in Singapore) is the final session of preliminary heats, including the men's and women's 400-meter individual medleys. Those will feature French star Léon Marchand and McIntosh, who will be in line for history if she beats Ledecky. Only American legend Michael Phelps has won five individual gold medals at a single world championships, a mark McIntosh would equal with wins in the 800 freestyle and the 400 IM.
The world championship program concludes Sunday with eight finals.
(Photo of Gretchen Walsh: Oli Scarff / AFP via Getty Images)