Gretchen Walsh broke her own 100m butterfly world record again on 2026-05-03 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, swimming 54.33 seconds for the third time she has set the mark in 12 months. [1]
The 23-year-old American had first gone under 55 seconds last May at the same event, when she clocked 54.60, becoming the first woman to break that barrier. [1]
Walsh now owns the 13 fastest times in the event's history, and she is more than 1 second quicker than the next-fastest woman, Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom, who swam 55.48 at the 2016 Olympics. [1]
She also holds short-course world records in the 50m and 100m butterfly and the 50m freestyle. After the swim, Walsh said, "Must be magic or something out here... let’s make this an annual thing, shall we?" [1]
Walsh's latest record came at the same Fort Lauderdale meet where she first broke 55 seconds in 2025. [1]
