Douglass, Walsh Win Silver on Day One of Olympic Swimming

PARIS – Virginia senior Gretchen Walsh and alumna Kate Douglass won silver medals in the 4×100 Relay on Saturday (July 27) the first day of the Olympic swimming competition at the Paris La Defense Arena in Paris, France.

Walsh swam the lead leg of the relay, clocking a 52.98, with Walsh following with a split of  52.55. Torri Huske and Simone Manuel swam the final two legs, with Manuel outtouching the Chinese team to secure the silver in an American Record time of 3:30.20. Australia took the gold in the event.

Douglass swam the anchor leg in the prelims. She won the 100-yard Freestyle at the U.S. Trials in June but chose to drop it as an individual event in Paris.

“It’s kind of the same mindset in either position, just swim the best 100 free that I can in that moment,” Douglass said. “And that’s what I did tonight, and I was happy that I got to lead off and trust that these ladies could finish it off. And they did.”

It was the first Olympic medal for Walsh, who is a first-time Olympian. It is the second career medal for Douglass, who won bronze in the 200 IM in Tokyo.

This was Walsh’s second record of the evening session. She posted a 55.38 in the semifinals of the 100 Fly to set an Olympic record in the event. She now owns the three fastest times in the history of the event.

“I was really nervous (Saturday morning), and I needed to get that swim out of the way and just leave the nerves in the pool,” Walsh said. “I think I did that because I was able to come out tonight and use my front-end speed and just get to the wall and set up a really good time for myself.  It set me up really well for the relay, and for (Sunday) morning.”

In the other women’s final of the day, Cavalier alum Paige Madden placed sixth in the 400 Free, posting a 4:02.26. Madden was seeded sixth in the final after swimming a 4:03.34 in the morning prelim.

Juniors Emma Weber and Aimee Canny will be in action on Sunday morning. Weber will swim in the 100 Breast prelim and Canny the 200 Free prelim. The morning session starts at 5 a.m. ET. The second session at 2:30 p.m. features semifinals for both events and Walsh’s 100 Fly final.

The Olympic swimming events run through Sunday, August 4.

Cavalier Running Medal Tally: 2
Silver (2): 4×100 Free (Douglass, G Walsh)

American Records
4×100 Free Relay (Douglass, G Walsh) 3:30.20

Olympic Records
100 Fly (G Walsh), 55.38