A New World Record By The U.S. Women Closes Out Swimming In Paris

NANTERRE, France — After nine days of swimming at Paris’ La Defense Arena, the U.S. women put an exclamation mark on the end of the the Olympic Games Paris 2024 — shutting down the pool with a new world record.

After first-time Olympian Gretchen Walsh narrowly missed out on the bronze medal in the 50m free — coming in one-hundredth of a second behind China’s Yufei Zhang (24.20) — the 21-year-old went on to swim the penultimate leg in the women’s 4x100 medley relay, winning gold and setting a new world record in the process. 

Swimming rival Australia followed behind with the silver and a time of 3:53.11, with China rounding out the podium (3:53.23).

“It was tough, obviously, seeing fourth by 0.01,” Walsh said about her second miss at these Games by a small margin. “That always stings, but I was proud of my race, regardless.”

Earlier in the week, she was on her way to winning the 100m butterfly — after setting a new Olympic record in her first heat the day before — but lost the top podium spot by four one hundredth of a second. The gold went to her medley relay teammate, Torri Huske.

“I knew that I had an even bigger, better opportunity to be on top of the podium in the relay,” Walsh said. “I just did what I did last night (after finishing second in the 50m semifinal heat): move on quick and put out the best possible time I could for these ladies.”

Rounding out the quartet was Lilly King and Regan Smith, who collectively swam away with the gold with a time of 3:49.63, more than three seconds ahead of Australia and People’s Republic of China. 

King — a three-time Olympian — has medaled in this event for the past three Games, and last took silver at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 along with Smith and Huske. She was also a part of the team at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 who won gold.

“It’s cool to be a part of that relay [team] and watch it get faster and faster, with pretty much the same people,” King said, sharing that it was “an awesome way to cap off the meet.”

The win marked the fifth gold for the U.S. women swimmers — six if you include the mixed relay. An impressive feat considering the total golds won by Team USA Swimming was eight. 

Bringing in two of those golds (and a bronze) was four-time Olympian Katie Ledecky, who cemented her title in Paris as the most decorated U.S. female Olympian after winning the 800 freestyle on Saturday night. 

Matching Ledecky’s three individual medals was Smith, who became the only woman to ever medal in the 200m backstroke, 200 butterfly and 100 backstroke in a single Olympics.

As the American flag lifted on the final swimming event in Paris, the 22-year-old was unable to hide her emotions, comforted by King as her lips quivered and the tears fell. 

In the end, the U.S. came away with the most gold medals and the most overall medals, 10 ahead of Australia’s 18.         

U.S. women’s Olympic head coach, Todd DeSorbo, said he was happy with the results in Paris.

“I think the meet was great. There were a lot of Olympic records set, by all countries, including the US. We had a good time,” he added.

Lisa Costantini has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than a decade, including for the International Olympic Committee. She is a freelance writer who has contributed to TeamUSA.com since 2011.