Torri Huske Has Clearest Path to Record-Tying Eight Gold Medals
The expected women’s stars of the World Championships are Summer McIntosh, who set three world records and threatened two others at last month’s Canadian Trials, and Gretchen Walsh, fresh off a dominating college career and seven gold medals at the Short Course World Championships.
But by the end of eight days of racing in Singapore, the most overall medals could belong to another American, Walsh’s counterpart in three individual races. Torri Huske ran down Walsh to win Olympic gold in the 100 fly last year, and she will return as a medal contender in the event this year, albeit probably out of range of Walsh’s world record of 54.60. But after the 100 fly takes place over the first two days of the meet, Huske will embark on an ambitious campaign of freestyle racing that could yield big results.
Even though her individual gold in Paris came in butterfly, Huske provided big swims in freestyle at those Games as well. Swimming from lane one in the 100 free final, she won a surprise silver medal, finishing ahead of favorites Siobhan Haughey and Mollie O’Callaghan. Three days later, Huske fought off China’s Yang Junxuan by 0.12 to earn the Americans gold in world-record time in the mixed 400 medley relay.
Torri Huske — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
This time around, Huske’s freestyle efforts will be central to the American women’s quest for a supreme medal haul. It begins on day one when she takes on the 400 freestyle relay, where the Americans have a legitimate chance to dethrone Australia for the first time in eight years. All four swimmers expected to be part of the finals squad (Huske, Walsh, Simone Manuel and Kate Douglass) have been under 53 since June 2024. Huske will then race the 100 fly final on day two before her only full day off from competition.
On the fourth day, expect Huske to be involved with the U.S. mixed 400 medley relay team, which is co-favored for gold alongside China. The lineup is a question due to a relatively weak backstroke contingent for the American men, but even if Huske were dropped from the finals grouping, she would surely be involved in prelims. The day after that, she will swim the first two rounds of the 100 free while participating in the American women’s 800 free relay for the first time. Huske cut more than two seconds from her lifetime best in the 200 free this season, topping out at 1:55.71 for a surprise third-place finish at U.S. Nationals.
In the 100 free final, Huske will be the slight favorite for a world title thanks to her time of 52.43 from U.S. Nationals, comfortably putting her first in the world rankings entering the global meet. Competition will surely come from O’Callaghan, Walsh and the Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen, but the only swimmer who beat Huske in the Olympic final, Sarah Sjostrom, will be absent. This event represents her best chance at individual gold this week.
Over the final two days of competition, Huske is a strong medal contender in the 50 free, having gone 23.98 for second place behind Walsh at U.S. Nationals and the second-quickest time in the world this year. Huske, Walsh and Jack Alexy make the American team favored in the mixed 400 free relay, and the U.S. women are expected to put forth another dominant medley relay effort after winning gold by three-and-a-half seconds in Paris.
Put that together, and Huske has a path to eight medals, which would tie the all-time record for most at a single World Championships. Previously, Caeleb Dressel won six golds and two silver in 2023. Walsh is also expected to participate in eight total events, but she will have a tougher time grabbing a medal in the 100 free than Huske will in any of her events.
The wild card in all this is health: Huske is among the dozens of American swimmers who suffered from gastrointestinal illness at the conclusion of the team’s training camp in Thailand. She is still expected to compete in all her events in Singapore, but it’s unclear how she quickly she will bounce back to full strength. Fortunately for Huske — and the U.S. medal hopes — six of her eight finals take place Wednesday or later, giving her time to recover and be in position for a big medal haul.
