Walsh and Douglass Take Silver and Bronze in 200 IM at Tokyo Olympics

TOKYO, Japan – Virginia teammates Alex Walsh (Nashville, Tenn.) and Kate Douglass (Pelham, N.Y.) captured silver and bronze medals in the 200-meter individual medley on the fifth day of the swimming competition at the Tokyo Olympics.

Halfway through the race, Walsh found herself in third while Douglass was sitting in sixth. The two Virginia swimmers willed their way back into the top three for the last 50 meters, eventually having Walsh touch the wall in 2:08.65 to win silver while Douglass’ 2:09.04 came shortly thereafter to claim bronze.

“It has been great being able to watch all my other USA teammates medal and do amazing things,” Douglass said. “So now it was Alex (Walsh) and I’s chance to do that together and it was awesome we were able to do that next to each other.”

Both Walsh and Douglass set new personal bests, moving Walsh up to fourth and Douglass to ninth on the all-time list of fastest 200m IM swimmers in American history. This is the first time that two Americans have stood the podium in the women’s 200m IM since Tracy Caulkins and Nancy Hogshead did so in 1984.

Japan’s Yui Ohasi won the event with a time of 2:08.52. She previously took gold in the 400 IM. It marked the seventh consecutive Olympics a swimmer swept the two individual medley races.

Walsh and Douglass join incoming UVA first-year Emma Weyant (Sarasota, Fla.) as Cavaliers who made it to the medals podium at the Games. Weyant took the silver medal in the 400 IM earlier in the week.

Walsh and Douglass helped UVA to its first NCAA team championship this year and each won individual national titles. Walsh captured the 200 IM while Douglass was first in the 50 Free. Walsh also anchored the Cavaliers’ 800 Free Relay team that took the NCAA title.

Next up for the Cavaliers at the Olympic Games is Paige Madden (Mobile, Ala.) who will compete in the 4×200 Free event on Wednesday (July 28) morning at 7:17 a.m. ET. Madden finished seventh in the 400 Free earlier in the week.

Virginia Olympians