Douglass Breaks 50m Freestyle World Record Twice

The women's 50-metre freestyle world record changed hands three times this summer. On a single Saturday evening in Irvine, Kate Douglass decided the final exchange would be the last.

A morning reclaim, an evening demolition

Douglass arrived at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center knowing her training partner Gretchen Walsh held the mark at 23.55. She swam 23.49 in the morning preliminary heat to reclaim it. That was merely the rehearsal.

Three-tenths where hundredths usually reign

In the evening final she cut a line through the water that left the field meters behind. She touched in 23.19, a full three-tenths of a second faster than the record she had set hours earlier. In an event where progress is measured in hundredths, the gap was seismic.

Walsh took silver in 23.74, well adrift. Australia's Meg Harris claimed bronze in 23.89. No woman had ever broken 23.2 before that swim.

The performance gave Douglass three of the five fastest times in the history of the event. The record had previously belonged to Sarah Sjöström, who owned the seven quickest marks before this summer's American sprint revision.

"I had to do a few double takes, not really sure I was seeing that right because that time just seems like crazy fast to me," she told reporters afterwards.

Twenty-five minutes after the world record, Douglass climbed the blocks again for the 200-metre breaststroke and took silver. Later she anchored the medley relay to gold. Three medals in two hours, a triple belonging to the world's most versatile swimmer.