Fabio Cetti
Three Cavaliers Take Home Silver Medals on First Night of World Championships
The 2023 FINA World Aquatics Championships got underway on Sunday in Fukuoka, Japan and three Virginia swimmers earned silver medals as part of Team USA's 4x100 meter freestyle relay team.
Kate Douglass has won yet another international medal and Gretchen Walsh and Maxine Parker brought home their first international medals on the first night of the World Championships. The three Hoos were members of the women’s 4x100 freestyle relay that came in second with a time of 3:31.93. The Australian team finished first with a world record time of 3:27.96. Gretchen Walsh was the first leg of the race and Kate Douglass was the anchor. Maxine Parker didn’t swim in the final, but swam the third leg of the event in the prelims. The Americans were in third place when Douglass dove in for the anchor leg, but she managed to pass China to earn silver. However, the Australians stole the headlines in this race, beating their world record by more than a second to claim gold.
In other Cavalier-related updates, Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh both won their heats in the 200-meter individual medley. Later on, Walsh came in first and Douglass came in sixth in the semifinals, giving them both a shot at the A final. Additionally, Gretchen Walsh came in eighth in the 100-meter butterfly heats and sixth in the semifinals, also earning a finals spot. Both of those races will be tomorrow, so fans in the U.S. can tune in early Monday morning to see the Hoos race for gold.
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