Breaking Down The Fastest Women’s 100 Fly Performances (Data Visualization)

Haven’t recovered from the women’s 100 butterfly at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials? Neither have we.

After a week of intense racing inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the women’s 100 butterfly—swum over the first two days of the nine day meet—stands as one of the best races these Trials gave us.

The battle between Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske, and Regan Smith was one for the ages as the three duked it out for the two spots on the Olympic roster. Four of the top eight performances in history now come from these Trials. Walsh blazed a world record in the semifinals on night one of the meet and in the final all three were under Huske’s former American record of 55.64. They now rank first (Walsh), third (Huske), and tied for sixth (Smith) on the all-time top performers list.

Top 10 All-Time Performances, Women’s 100 Fly (LCM)

1. Gretchen Walsh (USA), 55.18 — 2024 U.S. Trials Semifinals
2. Gretchen Walsh (USA), 55.31 — 2024 U.S. Trials Finals
3. Sarah Sjöström (SWE), 55.48 — 2016 Olympics
4. Torri Huske (USA), 55.52 — 2024 U.S. Trials Finals
5. Sarah Sjöström (SWE), 55.53 — 2017 World Championships
6. Maggie MacNeil (CAN), 55.59 — 2021 Olympics
7. Zhang Yufei (CHN)/Regan Smith (USA), 55.62 — 2020 Chinese Nationals/2024 U.S. Trials Finals
8. —
9. Sarah Sjöstrom (SWE)/Zhang Yufei (CHN)/Torri Huske (USA), 55.64 — 2015 World Championships/2021 Olympics/2022 World Championships
10. —

We don’t often get to see the six fastest performers in history all on their best in the same final. This year, we won’t even see all six in the 100 butterfly Olympic final. Sarah Sjöström has shifted her focus and Smith won’t race this event in Paris.

But what would it look like to see all these swims next to each other? Below, the data visualization shows the top six performances all-time stacked next to each other

The visualization gives context to two splits we saw in last week’s final: Walsh’s opening split and Smith’s back half.

Walsh was .13 seconds off her world record in the swim that actually qualified her for her first Olympics, but she was out incredibly fast. She turned at the wall in a blistering 25.20 that would be the second-fastest 50 fly performance of her career. In fact, if she wasn’t already tied for 4th on the all-time list, that split would tie her for 7th with Fran Halsall.

The visualization shows Walsh’s finals avatar out in front at the turn. Halfway though the race, she’s already .25 seconds ahead of her world record pace. And she’s .47 seconds ahead of Sjöström’s 25.67 from 2017 Worlds, the next fastest opening split.

The other split from Indianapolis to focus on is Smith’s closing speed. After opening her race in 26.68—the slowest opening split in the visualization—Smith charged with a 28.94 on the final 50 meters. Not only is it the fastest back half of these eight performances, it’s the fastest 100 fly closing split that we can find.

Maggie MacNeil’s 29.09 second 50 from the Tokyo Olympics is .15 seconds behind her and is the next best back half of the top eight performances. At the 2019 World Championships, MacNeil closed her 55.83 swim in 29.06, which trails Smith’s pace by .12 seconds.

Of this group, Smith is the least experienced butterfly sprinter. She races all three backstroke distances and is elite at all three, but this season was the first time we’ve seen Smith play with the 100 butterfly in a while as she’s usually focused on the 200 fly instead of the sprints.

The other 200 butterflier here is Zhang Yufei, the reigning Olympic champion, though she hasn’t raced the 200 fly this season. Despite Zhang and Smith both having success in the 200 fly, they race their 100 fly differently.

Zhang, who has also medaled internationally in the 50 and 100 fly, split her best performance similarly to Walsh, Huske, and Sjöström—opening fast and holding on. Meanwhile, Smith’s race strategy is similar to MacNeil, who is much more sprint oriented than she. Smith and MacNeil opened their races in 26-high and 26-mid before scorching the second 50.

Even though neither Smith nor Sjöström will race the 100 fly in Paris this summer, we’ll still get to see four of the fastest women in history with their different race strategies battle for the Olympic podium.

Split Comparison, Top 8 Women’s 100 Fly Performances (LCM)