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Kate Douglass Clocks 51.97 100-Yard IM, Becomes First Woman Under 52 Seconds

UVA Blue vs. Orange Intrasquad

On Saturday at an intrasquad meet held by the University of Virginia, pro swimmer Kate Douglass clocked a time of 51.97 in the women’s 100-yard IM, winning her heat by over a second. With her time, she became the first woman to ever break 52 seconds in the 100 IM, beating out her UVA training partner Gretchen Walsh‘s old “fastest-ever” mark of 52.09 from the UVA-Texas dual meet last season.

In the same heat, Virginia senior Alex Walsh went 53.23, which is the eighth-fastest performance of all-time in the women’s 100 IM.

And before everyone starts asking—yes, everyone was suited for this race. Meanwhile, Walsh had been in a practice suit when she set the old 100 IM “record”.

Women’s 100 IM, Top Performances*:

  1. Kate Douglass — 51.97 (2023)
  2. Gretchen Walsh — 52.09 (2022)
  3. Kate Douglass — 52.48 (2020)
  4. Kate Douglass — 52.73 (2022)
  5. Kate Douglass — 53.01 (2022)
  6. Katie Meili — 53.02 (2014)
  7. Alex Walsh — 53.08 (2021)
  8. Alex Walsh — 53.23 (2023)
  9. Gretchen Walsh — 53.54 (2021)
  10. Alex Walsh — 53.73 (2022)

*verifying times for an event not typically raced at official meets is difficult, so if you know of a swim we missed, please let us know in the comments.

As shown in the list above, the list of fastest 100 IM performances is dominated by Virginia women, who account for nine of the 10 top times.

The 100 IM isn’t typically contested at major college meets such as conferences and NCAAs, but it is an official NCAA event. The biggest short course yards meet that offers the 100 IM is the NSCA Junior National Championships, although the short course meters edition of the race is part of the event program at both the FINA Short Course World Championships as well as the ISL. That being said, since Douglass is a pro swimmer who is not competing in the NCAA, her 51.97 does not count as an  NCAA record.

Here is the race video of Douglass’ swim, courtesy of the UVA Swimming YouTube channel:

Douglass finished her NCAA career this past March, where she put up arguably one of the greatest collegiate performances in history by winning three NCAA titles and breaking NCAA records in all of her individual events. She opted not to use her fifth year of eligibility, citing that she wanted to use the 2023-24 season to prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and focus on long course. However, she will still be training with her old college team at Virginia. At the 2023 World Championships, she won her six medals, including individual gold in the 200 IM and silver in the 200 breast. She also split a 51.79 free anchoring Team USA’s mixed medley relay, clocking the fastest 100 free relay split ever by an American woman.

Although Douglass is done with NCAA swimming, she is still being recognized for her collegiate accolades. Two weeks ago, she was honored as a finalist for the AAU James E. Sullivan Award, which eventually was won by Iowa Women’s Basketball player Caitlin Clark.

 

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Chestertonliveson!
1 year ago

I need to see an article breaking down who’s dynasty was better, Stanford women or now Virginia!

TRT
Reply to  Chestertonliveson!
1 year ago

You really want to go there? Stanford in just its (recent) “dynasty” years had ten swimmers (DiRado, Eastin, Forde, Howe, Hu, Huske, Ledecky, Manuel, Neal, and Ruck) who combined for 73 NCAA titles, 18 Olympic medals, and more than 30 World Championahip medals just in the years during which they swam for Greg Meehan. Virginia would not fare any better in a tally of American, NCAA, NCAA Championship meet records, or All-America recognition obtained during the relevant years either.

Tea rex
1 year ago

For those curious, the giant next to Douglass is Zach Edey, Purdue basketball, 7’4”

Comfy Pants
1 year ago

absolutely incredible

David S
1 year ago

What does that equate in metres?

zdh
Reply to  David S
1 year ago

About 57.7 in SCM

JimSwim22
1 year ago

Anyone know what the pre NCAA 1IM record was? Tracy Caulkins maybe?

oldnotdead
Reply to  JimSwim22
1 year ago

Tracy swam the event at the 1982 NCAAs when it was an event. She won in 55.7 or 55.8 — I don’t think it was contested after the 1982 NCAA meet, but not easy to find the info online from events that long ago.

jeff
1 year ago

they really should have the 100 IM as an actual event

MTK
Reply to  jeff
1 year ago

Seems inexcusable that it isn’t!

Miself
Reply to  jeff
1 year ago

It would definitely be one of the most fun to watch events

Hmm
1 year ago

The all-time performers list looks like a team record board…

Marmot
1 year ago

Am I the only one a bit surprised the fastest 100 IM swam by a woman isn’t faster than this? I’m not casting stones, I’m just surprised it’s not closer to 50-point-something.

Maybe I’m just an idiot, but I’ve watched so many out of shape Masters swimmers go right around this time that I figured Douglass would smash a 50-point or sub-50 swim. 🤷

Wanna Sprite?
Reply to  Marmot
1 year ago

It’s always swum at the beginning of the season where the swimmers aren’t at their best and still getting a feel for racing. If it was done at the end I have no doubt Douglass and Gretchen could drop 50 lows

jeff
Reply to  Marmot
1 year ago

Yeah tbh I feel like a tapered swim from Douglass or Walsh could totally be in the sub 50 range? A 2:07.0 IM LCM feels about like a 2:04 high back/fly so at least based off that, an 100 IM time probably converts to about 1 second slower than back/fly or maybe a bit more.

Sub 50 feels a bit lofty but also a couple years ago, I would have never dreamed of 48.2 or 48.4 in back/fly

Last edited 1 year ago by jeff
zdh
Reply to  jeff
1 year ago

With a 1:48 2IM I think she would be in the 50.5 range or better, possibly under 50

Swimswam
Reply to  Marmot
1 year ago

This was swum in SEPTEMBER

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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