WALSH'S RECORDS LEAD THE WAY

American makes biggest splash on day of new marks at short-course worlds

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BUDAPEST - Records tumbled on the opening day of the world short-course swimming championships in Budapest on Dec 10, with Gretchen Walsh, Noe Ponti, Summer McIntosh, Kate Douglass and two United States relay teams breaking the old marks.

Walsh, a 21-year-old American, set three world records during the day.

She shattered the 50m short-course butterfly world record in her morning heat, swimming 24.02 seconds to slash 0.36sec off the record set by Swede Therese Alshammar in 2009 in the era of the now-banned super-suits.

In the evening semi-finals, Walsh, who won two Olympic relay golds in the summer, dipped under 24sec with a time of 23.94sec. She then wondered how she could go faster in the final on Dec 11, which started after press time.

"I don't know what I am going to fix going into tomorrow, but I am going to have to find something!" she said.

In the next race, Swiss Ponti broke the men's 50m fly record for the third time in 2024 when he won his semi-final in 21.43sec.