Gretchen Walsh broke the world record in the women’s 100-meter butterfly on Saturday night at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials.
She swam the race in just 55.18 seconds during a semifinal heat.
Walsh was swimming so fast that she was more than half a second ahead of the world-record pace when she made the turn. She kept going and managed to beat the previous record of 55.48 seconds, which was set by Sarah Sjöström from Sweden at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
“I definitely was feeling it,” Walsh said. She usually does better in shorter pools. “I thought I was dying. I didn’t know I was going that fast, and apparently, I took it out too fast.”
But it all worked out. Walsh looked at the scoreboard in shock, holding her hand over her mouth when she saw “WR” (which stands for “world record”) next to her name.
“There has been a little bit of a buzz out there,” she said. “I think going into tonight, I knew it would take a 55.4 or I guess 55.5, but I didn’t think I was going to do it tonight. I just knew I wanted to go a fast time, and now here I am — a world-record holder.”
The 21-year-old Walsh is from Nashville, Tennessee, and swims for the University of Virginia. She still has to compete in the final on Sunday night to earn a spot on her first Olympic team.
She’ll be up against some tough competition, including Torri Huske, Regan Smith, and Claire Curzan, who all won medals at the Tokyo Olympics.
But Walsh thinks she can swim even faster. “I still have room to grow in that race,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.