The Real Deal: Anna Moesch Proves Long Course Capabilities in London Breakout
The signs have pointed toward a huge breakout summer as Anna Moesch emerged as a national-championship-caliber freestyler in short course yards during her sophomore season at Virginia. Each season has brought significant improvement, and now, based on her results at the AP Race London International, the world must view Moesch as one of the world’s best freestylers.
In the 100 free, maybe the best. Monday evening at the London Aquatic Center, she annihilated the field with a time of 51.94. Moesch had been aiming to get under 53 for the first time after clocking 53.23 in prelims, but she blew right through the 52s to establish a new American record, taking a tenth off the 52.04 set by Simone Manuel in 2019. Prior to Moesch’s incredible effort, there had only been two sub-52 performances ever recorded, the world record by Sarah Sjostrom in 2017 and a 51.96 by Emma McKeon in the Tokyo Olympic final. Moesch now sits ahead of McKeon, her time the quickest recorded anywhere in nine years.
Before the 100, Moesch already had two individual victories at the meet to show off her abilities in other distances. She blasted a time of 24.27 to win the 50 free and followed that up with a 52.30 anchor split on the American women’s 400 medley relay. The next day, Moesch crushed the competition in the 200 free with a mark of 1:55.81. Those results also upended Moesch’s placement among the top Americans in the event. After racing in the B-final of both events at last year’s U.S. Nationals, Moesch has now posted times that would have put her in fourth place.
Individual medal contention at major international competitions beckons in the coming years. Moreover, with the extra importance of the 100 and 200 free for relay purposes, Moesch looks like another huge weapon for an American women’s team that has played second fiddle to Australia in the freestyle relays for many years.
No one saw a 51-second swim coming, but her breakthrough cannot be considered a surprise after what Moesch pulled off during the college season. At the NCAA Championships in March, Moesch became the second-fastest swimmer ever in the 200-yard free, coming within 0.13 off the 11-year-old American and NCAA records held by Missy Franklin. She could not match Torri Huske in the 100 free but still became the second-quickest swimmer ever. Her relay efforts, including a come-from-behind anchor leg in the 800 free, provided the fuel needed for a Virginia sweep. Thanks to Moesch, the Cavaliers hardly missed graduated star sisters Gretchen and Alex Walsh.
Anna Moesch at the NCAA Championships — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Short course yards competition hardly matters to those outside the United States; considered independently, yards times of 45.54 and 1:39.23 hardly send signals to Australia that the United States has another key relay piece to work with. Now, though, Moesch has lofted herself into the best-in-the-world conversation in the 100 free while proving definitively how she can aid her country in relay action.
Entering the 2025 World Championships, the U.S. women had their best chances in years to dethrone Australia in the freestyle relays, but widespread gastrointestinal illness prevented the team from swimming to its full potential. On night one, illness forced Gretchen Walsh off the 400 free relay, and replacement Erin Gemmell did all she could to manage a split of 53.17. The U.S. ended up falling by less than a half-second, but insert Moesch’s incredible 51.94, and that becomes gold.
Same story on the 800 free relay, where Gemmell’s 1:56.72 was the slowest of the four swimmers. Just replace that with Moesch’s flat-start mark from London (1:55.81), and the American team would have finished in 7:39.12, two tenths ahead of the Aussies. It’s rarely as simple as subbing out splits, but in both cases, anchor swimmers Huske (400) and Katie Ledecky (800) would have entered the pool with the lead. Hard to imagine a defeat in either situation.
Unfortunately for this year’s American team, Moesch will not be part of this year’s team going up against Australia at the Pan Pacific Championships. USA Swimming based selection on last year’s times, and although Moesch qualified for Worlds as the sixth-best 100 freestyler, only five received Pan Pacs nods with no prelims relays on the docket. That means Moesch’s debut on a senior-level finals relay would come no earlier than the 2027 World Championships in Budapest.
Given her current rate of progress, Moesch might be even better by then. Consider her jumps just this season:
- 50 Freestyle: 24.87 to 24.59 (early May) to 24.27 (late May)
- 100 Freestyle: 53.54 to 53.25 (early May) to 51.94 (late May)
- 200 Freestyle: 1:58.34 to 1:56.55 (early May) to 1:55.81 (late May)
By next summer, it would be no surprise if Moesch is contending for individual spots on the Worlds team across all three distances. She has already surpassed any of her rivals in the 100 free (with Sjostrom no longer racing the event), and her London time in the 50 was quicker than last year’s bronze-medal-winning time at Worlds. This year’s racing calendar means Moesch has a little longer to wait, but her ability to boost the American women’s freestyle fortunes in the run-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics cannot be denied.
