Gretchen Walsh shattered the World record in the 100m butterfly with a 55.18 blast in semi-finals at U.S Olympic Trials and then backed up with a 55.31 for her ticket to Paris. 

The global standard had stood at 55.48 to Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom since she became her country’s first ever female Olympic champion in the pool at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Coached at the University of Virginia by Todd de Sorbo and record-breaking NCAA sprint queen of the s/c yards pool these past two seasons, Walsh wiped out the record on her way too the turn. The splits compared: 

25.45 – 29.73; 55.18 Walsh 2024
26.01 – 29.47; 55.48 Sjostrom 2016

Equilibrium will be key to the outcome in Paris. In the final at trials, Walsh's 55.31 came off a 25.20 jaw-dropping, touch-too-much half-way split. On 25.98 at the turn in the Trials final, 2022 World champion Torri Huske may have felt like she was having a bad day but in fact she was on the way to a 55.52 lifetime best inside the 55.64 at which she'd held the American record until Walsh's semi. 

The first to set at World record at U.S trials since 2008, Walsh wiped a massive second off her pre-trials best of 56.14. Sjostrom was among the first to congratulate Walsh, one of her social-media posts noting: “Hate to disappoint fans who send me DM:S like “You will take that record back again soon (strong-arm, emoji)” – That Ain’t Gonna Happen … ". She is focussing on the 50 and 100m freestyle in Paris.

The Americans have set the pace for the Tokyo2020 champion in Paris. Maggie Mac Neil booked her ticket to the defence at La Defense Arena in 56.61, after 56.54 in heats at Canadian trials, where the art of practising the ‘easy speed’ required for the rounds in Paris, on display but the champion kept her powder dry. 

Mac Neil's best is the 55.59 in which she claimed gold three years ago. Among her goals: to be the first woman ever to retain the 100m butterfly title. Never been done.

Closest to the Americans this season heading into Paris is Angelina Kohler, who celebrated a German record of 56.11 in the semi-final on the way to taking the 'intercalated' World title in Doha at the first championships ever held in Olympic years and the first since the global showcase began in 1973 bypassed by waves of the top contenders.

Watch, too, for Mizuki Hiurai. At 17, she set a World junior record of 56.22 at a provincial High School meet the day before the entries for Paris closed. 

Now 26 and 29 respectively, China's Zhang Yufei, the 2023 World champion (see below) and Australia's Emma McKeon, completed the Tokyo podium behind Mac Neil and are both sub-56sec swimmers back in for the battle of Paris. 

In the rest of this article: the stats, the facts, the Tokyo 2020ne flashback and an overview of Olympic 100m butterfly history. 

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