SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers which individual record set at the Women’s NCAA Championships will be on the books the longest:
Question: Which record set at women’s NCAAs will stand the longest?
RESULTS
- 200 IM, 1:48.37 (Douglass) – 63.8%
- 200 breast, 2:01.29 (Douglass) – 30%
- 100 back, 48.29 (G. Walsh) – 3.1%
- 50 free, 20.79 (MacNeil) – 1.8%
- 100 fly, 48.46 (Douglass) – 1.4%
Kate Douglass had an absolutely dominant performance at the Women’s NCAA Championships earlier this month, sweeping her individual events in record-setting fashion.
The University of Virginia senior, who confirmed prior to the meet that she would not be using her fifth year of eligibility, set NCAA, U.S. Open and American Records in the 200 breaststroke (2:01.29), 100 butterfly (48.46) and 200 IM (1:48.37), lowering her own marks in the two former while taking down teammate Alex Walsh‘s record in the latter.
We also saw new individual records fall in the 50 free from LSU’s Maggie MacNeil and in the 100 back from Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh.
INDIVIDUAL RECORDS SET – 2023 WOMEN’S NCAAs
| Event | Old Record | New Record | % Improvement |
| 200 IM | 1:50.08 – Alex Walsh | 1:48.37 – Kate Douglass | 1.57% |
| 100 back | 48.74 – Katharine Berkoff | 48.26 – Gretchen Walsh | 0.99% |
| 100 fly | 48.84 – Kate Douglass | 48.46 – Kate Douglass | 0.78% |
| 50 free | 20.83 – Gretchen Walsh | 20.79 – Maggie MacNeil | 0.19% |
| 200 breast | 2:01.43 – Kate Douglass | 2:01.29 – Kate Douglass | 0.12% |
Douglass’ records were all incredible in their own way. She now owns the five-fastest swims of all-time in the 200 breast (#5 is tied with Lilly King), and her 100 fly performance came in a head-to-head showdown with MacNeil, who also went under the old record in 48.51.
But the swim that stands above the rest is clearly the 200 IM, as she broke the previous record by 1.71 seconds, becoming the first swimmer sub-1:50 while completely bypassing the 1:49s in 1:48.37.
When asked which of these records would stand the longest, Douglass’ 200 IM received a whopping 63.8 percent of votes from SwimSwam readers.
With Douglass ending her collegiate career, she’ll likely be racing short course yards very few times moving forward, and although Torri Huske (1:50.06) and A. Walsh (1:50.07) also went under the old record at NCAAs, and both have eligibility remaining, they’re still well back of Douglass’ new mark.
Douglass’ 200 breast swim followed with 30 percent of votes, which checks out given that the next-fastest swimmer who will be active in the NCAA next season, Walsh, is nearly two seconds back in 2:03.02.
G. Walsh obliterated the 100 back record by nearly half a second in 48.26, and that swim led the remaining records with over three percent of votes.
The 100 fly received the fewest number of votes, though it could end up being on the books for a while given both Douglass and MacNeil are graduating. However, Huske was half a second back in 48.96 this year, and she’s still got two more seasons of eligibility to potentially take that mark down.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks: Dressel ’18 or Marchand ’23?
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The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner.
I don’t think any of these records will last long – even though they are all crazy fast
back/50/fly are possibly broken by g walsh/g walsh/huske or curzan in the next 2 years
But why are people so sure that a walsh can’t break the 2IM vs. the odds that elandt (or others) can go 2:01
theoretically, shouldn’t huske have as good of a chance of walsh to break the 2IM record — if not greater, given that she’s only a sophomore?
Yeah, I think it’s much more likely that Walsh or Huske break the 200 IM record next year than anybody getting close to 2:01 for a while.
Douglass was 1:50.92 already back in November of 2020 and has dropped about 2.5 seconds since then. At that same age, Alex’s PB sat at 1:53.69 (granted, from a year and a half before) but of course she went 1:51.5 and 1:51.8 about 7-8 months later.
You’ve got to look at caliber of the record and ignore the current crop of pursuers. At least that’s the way I would do it. Relegate details and focus on big picture generalities.
By that measure, the 200BR looks like it will endure the longest (however long that is).