Kate Douglass Rips 51.93 in 100 Freestyle Time Trial at National Championships
A little more than two months after Anna Moesch became the first American women to break the 52-second barrier in the 100-meter freestyle, one of her teammates has joined the club. During a time trial on Saturday at the United States National Championships, Virginia’s Kate Douglass went 51.93 for the 100 free, touching just .05 off Moesch’s American record of 51.88.
Douglass is the fifth woman to go sub-52 in the 100 freestyle, joining Moesch, the Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen (51.68), Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom (51.71) and Australian Emma McKeon (51.96). Douglass’ performance arrives six weeks after she set a world record of 23.59 in the 50 freestyle, a standard that endured for only six days, due to teammate Gretchen Walsh going 23.55 at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome.
According to Meet Mobile, Douglass was out in a split of 24.85 and came home in 27.08. She entered Saturday with a personal best of 52.56, produced at the 2024 United States Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. Douglass is preparing for this month’s Pan Pacific Championships, where she will contest a multi-event program from August 12-15.
Douglass was entered in the 50 freestyle at Nationals, but took a Declared False Start (DFS) in the prelims session to presumably focus on her time trial.
