Kate Douglass Sets American Record on Final Day at World Championships

DOHA, Qatar – Virginia swimmers Claire Curzan, Kate Douglass and Jack Aikins are competing at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships Feb. 11-18 in Doha, Qatar.

Preliminaries will begin at 1:30 a.m. E.T. each day, with the final sessions starting at 11 a.m.

Cavalier Final Medal Tally: 15
Gold: 200 IM (Douglass), 50 Back (Curzan), 100 Back (Curzan), 200 Back (Curzan), Mixed 4×100 Medley (Curzan, Douglass, Aikins), Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay (Aikins)
Silver: 100 Fly (Curzan), 200 Breaststroke (Douglass), 50 Free (Douglass)
Bronze: 4×100 Free Relay (Aikins), Mixed 4×100 Free Relay (Aikins, Curzan, Douglass)

Sunday, February 18

Kate Douglass set an American record in the 50M Freestyle on the final day of competition.

Douglass won silver in the event, posting her U.S. record time of 23.91, breaking Simone Manuel’s record. Douglass is just the second American woman to break the 24-second barrier in the event.

The silver was her third individual medal of the meet, adding to her gold in the 200IM and her silver in the 200 Breaststroke.

Jack Aikins closed out his meet by swimming in another relay prelim. He swam the leadoff backstroke leg of the 4X100 Medley Relay helping the U.S. to record the top time of 3:32.53 in the prelims. In the night session, the American squad went on to win the gold, earning Aikins his third relay medal of the meet and his second gold.

Douglass, Aikins, and Claire Curzan won a combined 15 medals at the championship, including eight golds.

Saturday, February 17

Claire Curzan won gold in the 200M Backstroke on Saturday (Feb. 17) at the 2024 World Aquatics Championship in Doha, Qatar.

Curzan, who was the top seed in the final, posted a personal-best time of 2:05.77, 1.26 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Curzan won gold in all three of the backstroke events. She is the third swimmer in World Championships history to sweep the 50, 100, and 200 distances of a single stroke, joining Kaylee McKeown (women’s backstroke) and Qin Haiyang (men’s breaststroke) who both achieved the feat in Fukuoka in 2023.

The gold was Curzan’s first medal of the day. She also won bronze in the final swim of the night, the Mixed 4×100 Freestyle Relay. Curzan swam the third leg of the relay with Kate Douglass swimming the anchor. The U.S. squad posted a time of 3:22.28, 1.10 seconds behind first-place China and 0.60 behind second-place Australia.

Jack Aikins helped the U.S. qualify for the final, swimming the second leg of the relay in the prelim, to earn his third relay medal of the meet.

Curzan has won four individual medals and two relay medals at this year’s championship.

Douglass, who has two individual medals and two relay medals, has an opportunity to add one more individual medal on Sunday. She is seeded third in the 50M Freestyle after posting a 24.19 in prelims and a 24.24 in the semifinals on Saturday.

Friday, February 16

Kate Douglass won silver in the 200M Breaststroke.

Douglass had a double, swimming in the 100M Freestyle final, in which she placed fourth with a 53.02, before finishing second in the 200 breast with a 2:20.91. It was the second individual medal for Douglass, who won the 200M Medley earlier in the week. She also won gold in the Mixed 4×100 Medley relay.

Jack Aikins concluded his individual events, finishing fourth in the 200M Backstroke. In an extremely tight race, Aikins finished with a 1:56.21, 0.91 off the gold medal time and 0.22 shy of the podium.

Claire Curzan added another pair of dominant performances in the backstroke. She had the top time in both the preliminaries (2:10.50) and the semifinals (2:07.01) of the 200M Backstroke. Her semifinal time was 1.84 faster than the No. 2 seed.

Curzan will swim for the backstroke gold-medal sweep on Saturday afternoon. She has already won the 50M and 100M races.

Douglass will swim in the 50 free preliminaries in Saturday’s early session.

Thursday, February 15

Claire Curzan won gold in the 50M Backstroke.

Curzan, who was seeded third in the final, swam a UVA-record time of 27.43, 0.02 faster than the silver medalist.

It was the second individual gold of the championship for Curzan, who won the 100M Backstroke on Tuesday. She will begin her quest for the trifecta on Friday, swimming in the 200M Backstroke preliminaries.

Kate Douglass swam in the preliminaries and semifinals for both the 200M Breaststroke and 100 Freestyle. She had the second-fastest time in the breaststroke (2:23.17) and will be seeded fifth in the free (53.31). Both finals will take place on Friday afternoon.

Jack Aikins logged the top time in the 200M Backstroke semifinals (1:56.32) to advance to Friday’s final.

February 14

All three members of the Virginia swimming contingent won gold in the Mixed 4x100M Medley Relay.

Claire Curzan and Kate Douglass swam the final two legs in the final, with Curzan swimming the Butterfly leg and Douglass anchoring with the Freestyle swim. Douglass touched the wall 2.90 seconds ahead of Australia to give the gold to Team USA.

It was the second gold medal of the meet for both Curzan and Douglass.

Jack Aikins swam the leadoff backstroke leg in the preliminaries to earn his gold medal. Aikins earned a bronze on the first day of the championship after swimming in the prelims for the American 4×100 Free Relay team.

In other action, Curzan swam in the 50 Backstroke prelims (27.99) and semifinals (27.65), earning a spot in tomorrow’s final, where she will be seeded third.

Douglass will return to individual competition tomorrow, swimming in the prelims for both the 100M Freestyle and 200M Breaststroke. Aikins will have prelims for the 200M Backstroke.

Tuesday, February 13

Claire Curzan, who was the top seed in the 100M Backstroke final, won gold, the first individual World Championship gold of her career and her second medal of the 2023 championship. She posted a UVA program-record time of 58.29 to top the field, finishing .83 seconds ahead of the silver medalist. It was the first individual World Championship gold of her career and her second medal of the 2023 championship. S She won two golds in relays at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, where she also won bronze in the 100 Back.

This is the 18th World Championship gold won by a Cavalier since 2017 when Todd DeSorbo began his tenure as UVA’s head coach.

In the men’s 100M Backstroke final, Jack Aikins finished eighth with a time of 54.50. It was his first finals’ swim of the meet.

Curzan will be back in action tomorrow, competing in the 50M Backstroke.

Monday, February 12

Kate Douglass repeated as world champion in the 200M Medley, posting a personal-best time of 2:07.05. It was her 10th career medal at the world championship and her third gold. In addition to winning the 200 IM at the 2023 World Aquatics Championship in Fukuoka, Japan, she also won a relay gold.

Claire Curzan won silver in the 100M Butterfly (56.61), her highest career finish in an individual event at a world championship. She won two golds in relays in 2022 in Budapest where she also won bronze in the 100 Back.

The 100 fly was the second of three swims on the day for Curzan. She swam the top time in the morning qualifying session of the 100 Backstroke (59.72) and also turned in the top mark in the semifinals in the evening session (58.73).

Jack Aikins finished eighth in the men’s 100 Backstroke semifinals with a time of 53.72 to earn a spot in the final. Aikins will be competing for his second medal of the championship after earning bronze in the 4×100 Freestyle Relay yesterday.

Sunday, February 11

Jack Aikins picked up the first medal of the event for a Cavalier, earning a bronze as a member of the 4×100 free relay team. Aikins swam the second leg in the preliminaries, helping the U.S. squad post the top time in qualifying of 3:12.32. He did not swim in the final, where the team finished third with a time of 3:12.29.

This is the first world championship medal of Aikins’s career. He is the first male Virginia swimmer to medal at worlds since Matt McLean won gold as a member of the U.S. 4×200 Relay Team in Doha in 2014.

Claire Curzan qualified for the final of the 100M Butterrfly, finishing second in the semifinal with a time of 57.06.

Kate Douglass had the top time in both the preliminaries (2:10.01) and the semifinals (2:08.41) of the 200M Individual Medley.

Both of those event finals will be held on Tuesday (Feb. 12).

ABOUT THE WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• The championships are World Aquatics’ largest and main event, traditionally held biennially every odd year, with all six of the aquatic disciplines contested every championship. Due to interruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, travel restrictions, host venues withdrawing from hosting championships, and World Aquatics’ withdrawing the rights to host championships, the championships will be staged every year from 2022 to 2025 until resuming to biennial from 2025 onwards.
• The United States team has an 18-athlete roster with five women and 13 men.
• Curzan, a sophomore on the 2023-24 Virginia team, tallied three medals at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, winning two relay golds and a bronze in the 100 back.
• Douglass, who graduated from Virginia in May 2023, competed at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, winning six medals, tying for the most by any swimmer at the meet, and anchored four relay teams for Team USA during the meet. She won two gold medals, a relay gold and an individual gold in the 200-meter IM. She won a relay bronze and an individual bronze in the 200 breast at the 2022 Championships in Budapest.
• Aikins swam for Virginia his freshman and sophomore years (2021-23), but is not participating in NCAA events this season to prepare for Olympic trials. This is his first time competing at the World Aquatics Championships.

Event Schedule

Feb. 11

• Women’s 400m freestyle
• Women’s 4x100m relay freestyle
• Men’s 400m freestyle
• Men’s 4x100m relay freestyle

Feb. 12

• Women’s 100m butterfly
• Women’s 200m medley
• Men’s 100m breaststroke
• Men’s 50m Butterfly

Feb. 13

• Women’s 1500m freestyle
• Women’s 100m backstroke
• Women’s 100m breaststroke
• Men’s 100m freestyle
• Men’s 100m backstroke

Feb. 14

• Women’s 200m freestyle
• Men’s 800m freestyle
• Men’s 50m breaststroke
• Men’s 200m butterfly
• Mixed 4x100m medley relay

Feb. 15

• Women’s 50m backstroke
• Women’s 200m butterfly
• Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay
• Men’s 100m freestyle
• Men’s 200m medley

Feb. 16

• Women’s 100m freestyle
• Women’s 200m breaststroke
• Men’s 200m backstroke
• Men’s 200m breaststroke
• Men’s 4x200m freestyle relay

Feb. 17

• Women’s 800m freestyle
• Women’s 200m backstroke
• Women’s 50m butterfly
• Men’s 400m freestyle
• Men’s 100m butterfly
• Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay

Feb. 18

• Women’s 50m freestyle
• Women’s 50m breaststroke
• Women’s 400m medley
• Women’s 4x100m medley relay
• Men’s 1500m freestyle
• Men’s 50m backstroke
• Men’s 400m medley
• Men’s 4x100m medley relay