American swimmer Gretchen Walsh set a new world record in the 100m butterfly, clocking 54.33 seconds at the Fort Lauderdale Open, breaking her own previous record of 54.60 seconds set in the same pool last year.
This marks another milestone in her dominance of the event, having already broken the record multiple times, including twice in a single day during last year’s competition.
Walsh’s latest achievement further cements her position as the fastest swimmer in the history of the race, placing her more than a full second ahead of the second-fastest ever, Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström, who holds a time of 55.48 seconds. Walsh also previously secured three world titles in Singapore, underlining her continued rise in international swimming.
In the same meet, French Olympic champion Leon Marchand delivered an impressive performance, winning two additional titles to bring his total to four in the tournament. He claimed victory in the 200m breaststroke with a season-best time of 2:09.04, followed by another win in the 200m individual medley in 1:57.28.
Hungarian swimmer Hubert Kos and American Carson Foster shared second place in the 200m individual medley, both finishing with identical times of 1:57.95. Kos trains alongside Marchand under renowned coach Bob Bowman, known for coaching Olympic legend Michael Phelps.
Marchand, who won four gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, is now preparing for the upcoming European Championships scheduled to begin in Paris on July 31.
