American swimmer Gretchen Walsh has set a world record in the 100 meter butterfly.
The 21-year-old swam a time of 55.18 seconds in the semifinals of the USA’s qualifying competitions for the Olympic Games, beating Sarah Sjöström’s previous best time by three tenths of a second in Indianapolis. The Swede set her record of 55.48 seconds at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“I definitely felt it. I thought I was going to die and didn’t know I was that fast,” said Walsh. In order to qualify as one of the two top finishers over this distance for the Games in Paris next month, the swimmer from the University of Virginia still has to overcome strong competition. Torri Huske, Regan Smith and Claire Curzan, all medal winners from Tokyo 2020, await in the final.