USA’s Gretchen Walsh smashes 15-year-old 50m butterfly world record

US Olympic champion Gretchen Walsh continued her sparkling year by shattering the 15-year-old world record for the 50m butterfly on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old set a mark of 24.02 in the heats of the 50m butterfly on the opening morning of the Short Course World Championships in Budapest. The previous record was held by Sweden’s Therese Alshammar, whose time of 24.38 came during the so-called “shiny suit” era in 2009 when records fell regularly.

Welsh said she believed she can go faster. “Definitely an awesome way to start the meet, the best way I could have. I think I have a lot more to come in that race – just some details I could tune up and execute it a bit better,” she said after the race. “So I’m looking forward to semis and finals hopefully, just getting better and better so definitely excited for tonight.”

Welsh, who is current a student at the University of Virginia, has now set two individual world records this year: the other came in the 100m butterfly at the US Olympic trials in June. She also won two golds – in the 4x100m mixed medley and the 4x100m medley – at this summer’s Olympics. She added an individual silver in the 100m butterfly at the Paris Games.