Record-breaking Walsh glad new marks come with money incentives

BUDAPEST - World records continued to dissolve on Dec 13 at the short-course swimming world championships as seven fell, with Gretchen Walsh claiming three of them, including two in 26 minutes.

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As records tumbled to Americans in the evening session in Budapest, Hungary, Kate Douglass set her third world mark of the week and Regan Smith added one more.

In the last race of the evening, the men's 4x200m freestyle relay, the Americans won in a world record with lead-off swimmer Luke Hobson breaking his 200m individual record at Duna Arena.

Every record brought a US$25,000 (S$33,740) bonus cheque from World Aquatics.

"I love that they celebrate cool wins, records, with money incentives just because this isn't a really high revenue-earning sport," said Walsh.

In the morning heats, the 21-year-old American broke the world record for the women's 100m butterfly when she clocked 53.24 seconds, smashing the previous 54.05sec mark set by Canada's Margaret Mac Neil in 2022.

Walsh returned to the pool in the evening to trim that time to 52.87sec in the semi-finals.