Gretchen Walsh shattered the 100m butterfly world record on Saturday, clocking 55.18sec in the semi-finals at the US Olympic swimming trials in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The US collegiate standout gunning for a Paris Olympics berth broke the record of 55.48sec set by Sweden’s Sarah Sjoestroem at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The 21-year-old Walsh electrified the crowd at Lucas Oil Arena, home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, in the first event of the opening finals session at the nine-day meeting.
American record-holder Torri Huske had made a run at Sjoestroem’s mark in the first semi-final, hitting 50m under world record pace before finishing in 55.79sec.
Walsh, who had never broken 56 seconds until she posted 55.94 in the heats on Saturday morning, then roared through her heat to make a statement heading into Sunday’s final.
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