Walsh Makes It 11 World Records & 7 Titles In 6 Days As Crooks Writes Cayman's History
American Gretchen Walsh has taken Budapest by storm: after a 22.83 WR in the 50 free, she has one target to go. A curtain-closing medley relay is likely to make it a haul-of-hauls, 11 World records and 7 golds; Jordan Crooks on 20.19 in 50 free as first Caymans World champion
The last sessions of the World Short-Course Championships in Budapest is often a dash to the line and so, in a storm of 10 finals, fitting that the curtain-closing should start with four 50m finals, the women's freestyle fight delivering a breathtaking 22.83 victory for Gretchen Walsh - in 22.83 - on her way to a record haul that will surely be hard to take down for quite some time.
The 21-year-old American still had one target to go after the dash but a 3:40.41 World record victory for the USA women's 4x100m medley quartet took Walsh's tyally to 11 World records and 7 golds in six days.
In part, that reflects the fact that World s/c meets are not the cauldron of a Olympic or World long-course events and in Budapest the best Australians and those from many other nations were not there to pile the pressure on... but even so, Match That! And not denying the speed of World records that came with a blow more sledgehammer than polite tap.
In the freestyle dash, Walsh got to the turn in 11.12, 0.01sec inside her semi-final pace that led to a World mark of 22.87 yesterday. The winner of the 100m free, 50 and 100m 'fly, the 100m medley earlier in the meet, whistled home in 11.71 for gold and that pioneering 22.83.
University of Virginia teammate Kate Douglass, another big hauler and standard-setter this week, was not far away: the Olympic 200m breaststroke champion moved up to fifth all-time on 23.05 for silver, the bronze to Katarzyna Wasick, of Poland, in 22.37. In fourth, hope for British sprinting: school girl Eva Okaro clocked 23.66, a World Junior record 0.03sec inside the previous standard.
How the Budapest dash shuffled the all-time top 10:
22.83 WALSH Gretchen USA Budapest 15/12/2024
22.93 KROMOWIDJOJO Ranomi NED Berlin GER 07/08/2017
23.00 SJOESTROEM Sarah SWE Berlin 07/08/2017
23.04 MCKEON Emma AUS Melbourne 17/12/2022
23.05 DOUGLASS Kate USA Budapest 15/12/2024
23.10 WASICK Katarzyna POL Indianapolis 03/11/2022
23.19 CAMPBELL Cate AUS Adelaide 27/10/2017
23.25 VELDHUIS Magdalena NED Manchester 13/04/2008
23.27 ALSHAMMAR Therese SWE Singapore 21/11/2009
23.32 SCHREUDER Hinkelien NED Istanbul 13/12/2009
Crooks Stacks Up For Historic Caymans Gold 20.19 Gold After 19.90 Sensational WR in Semi
Jordan Crooks made history for the Cayman Islands yesterday with a sensational 19.90 in his 50 free semi to become the first man to race inside 20sec. His next task was alchemy and today he duly converted with a 20.19sec victory, another Cayman's first, none from Crooks' home land having ever claimed a global crown in swimming before.
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