U.S. Nationals, Day 2 Women’s Prelims: Gretchen Walsh Scares 50 Fly American Record; Charlotte Crush Emerges
Three fast women’s finals on opening night at U.S. Nationals saw Caroline Bricker upset Regan Smith in the 200 butterfly and Torri Huske come from behind to beat Gretchen Walsh and Simone Manuel in the 100 freestyle before Katie Ledecky took a shot at her own world record in the 800 free. Ledecky returned to the pool Wednesday morning for the 200 free prelims, and she laid down the top qualifying time ahead of Claire Weinstein.
Later on Wednesday morning in Indianapolis, Kate Douglass has the top time in the 200 breaststroke prelims while teenagers Charlotte Crush and Leah Shackley posted stunning performances to take the top-two spots in the 200 backstroke heats. Finally, Walsh threatened her own American record in the 50 butterfly.
Women’s 200 Freestyle
A familiar field will be seeking individual and relay spots in the 200 free at the World Championships, and few will be surprised to see Katie Ledecky leading the way. Ledecky dominated the seventh of eight heats of the event on the way to a time of 1:55.49, slightly improving upon her previous season-best mark of 1:55.51 and remaining the third-fastest swimmer in the world. She has not raced the 200 free individually at a major international competition since the Tokyo Olympics, but she remains a key cog of the U.S. women’s 800 free relay.
Second in heats went to Claire Weinstein, the teenager who used a monster back half to take the second spot in the 800 free behind Ledecky Tuesday evening. Weinstein actually edged Ledecky in the 200 free at the 2023 Nationals, and she qualified for the Olympic final last year before winning bronze in the event at the Short Course World Championships in December. Weinstein went 1:55.95 in the morning, one second behind her world-leading season-best of 1:54.93.
Erin Gemmell likely secured her spot at her second World Championships Tuesday when she finished fifth in the 100 free, crushing her best time in the process. In her signature four-lap race, Gemmell was just behind her top mark of 1:55.97 as she crushed her heat and touched in 1:56.06. Anna Peplowski qualified fourth in 1:56.39. The Indiana swimmer will aim for an appearance on the senior-level U.S. team after dropping a half-second from her best time.
Fresh off a win in the 100 free, Torri Huske qualified for a national final in the 200 free for the first time, going 1:57.03 to erase her previous best of 1:57.71. Simone Manuel finished sixth in 1:57.29, followed by Bella Sims (1:57.54) and Isabel Ivey (1:57.88). Sims returns to a national-level final after she shockingly failed to advance from prelims in any event at the 2024 Olympic Trials. Sims previously qualified for relay duty in this event at the Tokyo Olympics plus the 2022 and 2023 World Championships.
Denied a spot in the final was Alex Shackell, a member of the U.S. relay team the last two years. Shackell missed with a ninth-place time of 1:58.06. After falling to fourth in Tuesday’s 200 fly final, this event marked Shackell’s best chance of making the Worlds team. Her only chance at advancing to the A-final would be if a swimmer ahead of her decides to scratch.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
No one came close to catching Olympic champion Kate Douglass in the women’s 200 breaststroke prelims. Douglass secured her spot on the World Championships team for a fourth consecutive year with a fourth-place finish in the 100 free, and she is expected to earn her first individual spot in this event. Her gold-medal-winning time of 2:19.24 made her the fourth-fastest swimmer ever, and her season best of 2:20.78 ranks second behind Russia’s Evgeniia Chikunova.
In this qualifying session, Douglass surpassed her heat by five seconds, coming in at 2:23.32. She will be joined by familiar faces in the final as her University of Virginia teammates comprised places second through fifth.
Alex Walsh, a two-time Olympian in the 200 IM and the third-place finisher at last year’s Olympic Trials, had the second-best time at 2:26.24, followed by Katie Christopherson (2:26.69), Leah Hayes (2:27.62) and Emma Weber (2:28.14). Walsh has never raced this event internationally but entered as the favorite for the second spot behind Douglass, ranking fourth in the world rankings at 2:22.71. Weber, meanwhile, raced the 100 breast at last summer’s Olympics after finishing runnerup in the event at Olympic Trials.
Kayda Geyer placed sixth in 2:28.79, with Abigail Herscu taking seventh (2:28.89) and Lucy Bell eighth (2:29.06). Bell was the NCAA champion in the 200-yard breast for Stanford this year.
Notably, this event went off without 2022 world champion Lilly King, who has been one of the two U.S. representatives in this race at every major meet dating back to the 2016 Olympics. King, 28, recently announced her retirement from the sport at the end of this season, and she is only competing in the 50 and 100-meter races at this year’s Nationals.
Women’s 200 Backstroke
A teenager fired off a warning shot in the final heat of the women’s 200 back. Charlotte Crush, a 17-year-old from Louisville committed to swim at NC State beginning with the 2026-27 season, walloped her best time of 2:09.76 by more than two seconds on the way to the top-seeded time. Crush jumped out more than a second ahead of American-record holder and Olympic silver medalist Regan Smith and held on to clock 2:07.05.
Right behind Crush was a current Wolfpack swimmer who also recorded a big best time. Leah Shackley dropped more than a second on her way to a 2:07.12 clocking as she edged out two-time Olympian Phoebe Bacon in heat six. Bacon went 2:07.27 for the third overall seed while Smith’s 2:08.00 ranked fourth in the morning. Smith is already on the Worlds team after finishing second in the 200 fly, and she remains the favorite for the evening final.
A third swimmer with NC State affiliation reached the final as Kennedy Nobel took fifth in 2:08.33, followed by Teagan O’Dell (2:08.57). Claire Curzan, the world champion in this event last February and the fastest swimmer ever in the 200-yard back, finished seventh in 2:08.63 while Rhyan White, a post-graduate swimmer training at NC State, grabbed the last spot in the top heat at 2:08.85. White was a finalist in this event at the Tokyo Olympics, and she and Bacon both reached the podium at the 2022 World Championships.
Audrey Derivaux just missed the final with a time of 2:08.94, leaving Thursday’s 400 IM as her last realistic chance of challenging for a Worlds spot. Catie Choate (2:09.32) and Tess Howley (2:09.55) also broke 2:10 while veteran Isabelle Stadden ended up 12th (2:10.50).
Women’s 50 Butterfly
Last month in Fort Lauderdale, Gretchen Walsh became the second woman in history to crack 25 in the 50 butterfly, joining the legendary Sarah Sjostrom. She has become the clear world-title favorite in the event with Sjostrom away from the sport this year. And in her first 50-meter race of Nationals, Walsh put a scare into her own American record.
Blasting down the pool with only one breath, she touched in 24.98 to miss her mark by just five hundredths. The 24.93 will surely come under first in the final, and Walsh could make further inroads on Sjostrom’s world record of 24.43, a mark that dates back to 2014. Walsh did break her own meet record of 25.11 from 2023.
Meanwhile, Walsh’s Virginia training partner Kate Douglass has established herself as the favorite for the second spot. Douglass will race two finals in the evening session, beginning with the 200 breast (in which she is the top seed) and concluding with the 50 fly. She qualified second out of prelims in 25.59. The main competition for the second spot will not be in the field, with 100 fly Olympic champion Torri Huske opting to scratch and focus on her evening swim in the 200 free.
Brady Kendall finished third in 25.90, followed by Mena Boardman (26.29), Caroline Larsen (26.48) and Ella Welch (26.52). Leah Shackley, fresh off picking up the second seed for the women’s 200 back final, claimed seventh in 26.59 while veteran Beata Nelson took eighth in 26.68. Charlotte Crush, the 17-year-old who was the surprise top seed in the 200 back, came in ninth at 26.73.
Further down in the standings, there was a tie for 16th place, with Alana Berlin and Emma Grace Richardson both clocking 27.10 and setting up a potential swim-off later in the day.
