USA Swimming
Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh Go 1-2 in 200 IM at World Championships
Virginia swimmers Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh are on the podium at the international level yet again. Kate Douglass earned Team USA’s first gold medal of the 2023 FINA World Aquatics Championships and Alex Walsh won silver in the 200-meter individual medley.
Douglass managed to win the race despite being in lane seven after a slower semifinal time. Alex Walsh was in the lead after the backstroke leg, but Douglass used speedy breaststroke and freestyle times to pass her, taking first in 2:07.17, while Walsh fended off any other competition to take second just .80 seconds later.
Walsh earned silver at the Tokyo Olympics and gold at the 2022 World Championships in this event, so this is her third-straight medal in the 200 IM. Douglass brought home a bronze at the Olympics and also won three bronze medals at last year's World Championships.
It’s not new to see Cavalier swimmers bringing home medals for Team USA, and this event was one with extremely high potential for that. Douglass and Walsh capitalized, sharing the podium once again.
Earlier in the session, Gretchen Walsh placed 8th in the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.38. Walsh swam a 56.34 at the US National Championships to qualify for Worlds, a time that would have given her second place in this race. Unfortunately, a second is all it takes to drop from second to eighth in such a short and competitive race.
Virginia swimmers have now earned a total of five medals in the first two days of the World Championships, as the opening night saw Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, and Maxine Parker win silver as part of Team USA's 4x100-meter freestyle relay team.
UVA fans have time off before Kate Douglass swims in the heats for the 100 freestyle and the 200 breaststroke, which will begin around 9:30 pm EST on Wednesday.
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