There's no global World long-course gathering this year for the first time since Covid Year 2020 - a good time to rip the book up, maybe. Certainly, that's what Kate Douglass did when she took a sledgehammer to her personal best with a stunning 23.59 World record in the 50m freestyle last the last of the 2026 Pro Swim Series in the U.S.

• 23.91, from 2024, has been Douglass' high dash -
• 23.59, in Indianapolis, is the first World record of Douglass' career

By any measure, the size of leap is staggering: 0.32sec, one length in one leap. And not far back, on another massive PB, was training partner Gretchen Walsh, on 23.78, a match of the fastest Aussie ace Cate Campbell ever went. The Virginian team-mates had shared a pb, at a joint American record of 23.91. Now, there's a 0.19sec gap between the swiftest two Americans in the sub-24 club (table below).

The moment also marked the first time in history that an Olympic 200m breaststroke champion has held the 50m freestyle high bar.

And it's the first time the standard has been held by an American woman since Dara Torres clocked 25.61 on July 21, 1984 two years out from the event's debut at the World Championships in the infancy of the one-length sprint as an official event.

We're now two years out from the Los Angeles Games that will grant Douglass, 24, a shot at golden home Games. Snap for Walsh, the premier sprint 'fly swimmer of this era and speed pioneer on the cusp of taking the women's 100 'fly pace beyond the best Mark Spitz mustered for men back in 1972 as he hauled his record seven Olympic golds and all that:

Walsh Within 0.06 Of Spitz At His Best, Her Best 100 ’Fly A 4th Career WR Of 54.33

On 25.09 at the turn, the Virginia ace was travelling at a speed that only Swedish ace Sarah Sjöstrom (24.43 WR) Walsh herself, China’s Zhang Yufei and the model of sprinting Sjöstrom aspired to in Sweden, Therese Alshammar, have ever swum faster than in a pure 50m race

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

So, daunting progress from the Virginia teammates coached by Todd DeSorbo and team as pros in their college aquatic alma mater. Look to third place and there's another mate on the move: Anna Moesch, 24.20, the month after she leapt from the 53 zone to the 51 zone in the 100m free:

Moesch’s 51.94 Message To Dolphins: Eagles Are After Your 4x100 Crown at LA2028

Only Sarah Sjöström, the double Olympic 50-100m freestyle sprint champion and 51.71 World-record holder from Sweden, has ever swum faster than Moesch’s march past the 52s from 53.2. to 51.9 at the London International. Great expectations ahoy!

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

There are many things that go into swimming performance, the reasons why speed takes its time and then bursts like a bloom in spring. If you trace back on the trail of Douglass' progress, you're led this embrace of technology, among reasons why we may be seeing what we're seeing:

Douglass & Her Doppelgänger Dance With Data To Party In The Paris Olympic Pool

Thanks to Newton’s calculus, “Mathematics, physics and technology have revolutionised swimming. The idea is that biomechanical and hydrodynamic minutiae are variables in a complex physical and mathematical problem. By optimizing these “variables,” swimmers can reach near perfection.”

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

The dash duel at the helm of the Indy race today shuffled the sub-24 club like this (the 2008 and 2009 times all in shiny suits banned since Jan 1, 2010):

We look back at the first season of shiny suits when poly(urethane) out the kettle on in the pool, to find the first sub-24sec dash in history.

In 23.97, Libby Trickett, of Australia, delivered the barrier-breaker in the clock back in March 2008 at the Australian Championships in Sydney.

The suit played a big role. Since then, only Sarah Sjöström, of Sweden, has held the mark in a time faster than any shiny suit record, her efforts of 23.67 in semi-final action in July 2017 at the World Championships in Budapest topped by the 23.61 in a semi-final on the same date, 29 July, different year, at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka.

The fastest three swims in history have something key in common: they unfolded when the pressure is not at its max. We also know, of course, that both Sjöström and Douglass are big-time winners, Paris 2024 having confirmed it:

• Double sprint freestyle gold for the Swedish sprint ace who claimed her first gold - and the first Olympic title for a Swedish woman in the pool - in the 100m butterfly at Rio 2016.
• Gold in the 200m breaststroke, silver in the 200 medley after bronze in that multi-skill confirmer of an event in 2020

In Paris, in the ultimate cauldron, Sjǒström dominated the dash, and Gretchen Walsh missed out on a medal 0.01sec behind one of the China-23-go-free:

Sarah Sjöström Sweden 23.71
Meg Harris Australia 23.97
Zhang Yufei China 24.20
Gretchen Walsh United States 24.21

W50 Free: Sjöström Saves Best For Fifth Games In Dash To Paris Double & Third Career Gold In 23.71

The first Swedish woman ever to claim Olympic gold in the pool where she took the 100m butterfly title in a World record at Rio 2016, is now the first Swedish woman to take Olympic gold in the 100 and the 50m freestyle

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Douglass didn't take on the 50 free in Paris, where Walsh and Simone Manuel, the 2016 100m free Olympic champion, represented the USA.

Two years, on Douglass is the sprinter to beat down one length freestyle, and Sjöström has gained fresh incentive as she makes her way back to form after the birth of her first child.

Douglass' Dashing Dash:

The final in which it unfolded:

Event 21 Women 50 LC Meter Freestyle

World: W 23.61 7/29/2023 Sarah Sjostrom, SWE
American: A 23.91 2/18/2024 K Douglass / G Walsh (6/7/25), USA
U.S. Open: O 23.91 6/7/2025 Gretchen Walsh, New York Athleti
Pro Swim: M 24.17 1/16/2016 Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden
Jr World: 24.17 5/14/2021 Claire Curzan, TAC

=== A - Final ===

1 Douglass, Kate 24 New York Athleti 24.26 23.59W
r:+0.67
2 Walsh, Gretchen 23 New York Athleti 24.63 23.78
r:+0.70
3 Moesch, Anna 20 Greater Somerset 24.54 24.20
r:+0.72
4 Huske, Torri 23 New York Athleti 24.83 24.27
r:+0.58
5 Wasick, Kasia 34 Unattached-NT 24.64 24.38
r:+0.66
6 Vincent, Cadence 21 Univ Alabama Swi 24.69 24.61
r:+0.65
7 Clark, Liberty 18 Indiana Universi 24.88 24.70
r:+0.61
8 Paegle, Kristina 22 Indiana Universi 24.93 24.74
r:+0.66

Sjöström remains the queen of top 50-speed consistency, of course: after Douglass' new high, the Swedish ace holds the next 7 best ever and graces the all-time top 20 performances list with 13 entries.

The happy moment snapped by USA Swimming:

• RESULTS IN FULL

The Rest of the Meet so far - a summary of the the three days of action.follows for our newsletter readers and subscribers: