Cavaliers with Six Medals Through Five Days of World Championships

SINGAPORE– Ten Virginia swimming student-athletes and alumni are competing at the FINA World Aquatics Championships July 26 through August 3 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena in Singapore.

Through the first five days of competition, the Cavaliers have won six medals, highlighted by a world title for Gretchen Walsh in the 100 Fly and individual silvers for Kate Douglass in the 100 Breast and Alex Walsh in the 200 IM. Anna Moesch has won two relay silvers.

Prelims start at 10 pm ET each day with finals at 7 am the next morning. Prelim and finals sessions will stream live on Peacock.

Thursday, July 31 Recap

Anna Moesch picked up her second medal of the Championships, winning silver with the US 4×200 Free Relay. Moesch swam the third leg in morning prelims, helping the American squad to the top time in the heats with a 7:49.43. The finals session team of Claire Weinstein, Anna Peplowski, Erin Gemmell and Katie Ledecky turned in an American record time of 7:40.01 to finish just behind the Australians.

Moesch qualified for Team USA as a relay swimmer. She also won silver on the first night of the competition in the 4×100 Free Relay.

In other Thursday action, incoming Cavalier Sara Curtis qualified for the final in the 100m Freestyle. Curtis turned in the second fastest time in the prelims (53.53) and was seventh in the semis (53.39) to book her spot in Friday’s final. Gretchen Walsh scratched the event.

Kate Douglass earned a spot in the final of the 200m Breaststroke. She had the second-fastest time in both the prelims (2:23.28) and semis (2:20.96). Alex Walsh advanced to the semis with a 14th place swim (2:26.56) but failed to advance to the final, placing 12th in the semis (2:25.16).

Jack Aikins was 24th in the prelims of the 200 Back (1:58.56). Aimee Canny swam in the prelims on the 4×200 Free Relay for South Africa, but the team did not advance to the final.

Wednesday, July 30 Recap

Incoming freshman Sara Curtis helped lead the Italian team to the top time in the prelims of the 4×100 Mixed Medley Relay (3:42.19). Curtis, who swam the freestyle anchor leg again in the finals, saw her team finish in sixth place with the exact same time.

Tuesday, July 29 Recap

Kate Douglass won silver in the 100m Breaststroke, posting a personal best (and UVA-record) time of 1:05.27. Douglass was 0.08 seconds behind gold medalist Anna Elendt and 0.37 ahead of the bronze medalist.

This was Douglass’s first time swimming the 100 Breast in senior international competition and first time since the 2018 Youth Olympics. It is her second silver medal of the championships to go with a relay silver. This is the first of the three individual events she will be competing in at the championship.

“I just wanted to give it my all that last fifty,” Doglass said. “I wanted to try to be a little bit faster than I was last night.  I never expected going that time coming into this meet. so i’m really happy with that. I definitely love this event. I think I’ll keep continuing to focus on it in the future.”

Aimee Canny was the only other Cavalier competing on Tuesday. Canny tied for 8th in the prelims of the 200m Freestyle (1:57.53), but came in 12th in the semis (1:57.52) and will not advance to the final. She has one event remaining as she will swim in South Africa’s 4×200 Free Relay.

Monday, July 28 Recap

Gretchen Walsh won the first individual long course world title of her career on Monday in the 100m Butterfly. Walsh went 54.73 in the final to take gold in a championship-record time. Her mark was the second fastest time in history, trailing only her world-record mark set earlier this year in Fort Lauderdale. She now owns the eight fastest performances all time in the event.

“I knew that tonight was going to be a fight for me, and that swim took a lot of guts, but I’m really so happy with the result,” Walsh said. “I was aiming for a 55 so to go 54 was really a surprise, and something I’m really proud of. In my mind is thinking, ‘do not let these people catch you.’ I’m a swimmer that flies and dies, and I’ve just been working so hard at staying strong on the end. I wanted to do that here. So I was just thinking, keep my technique, keep my form, and that’ll get me to the finish.”

Gretchen Walsh owns five individual 25m World Short Course titles, but this was her first in the 50m pool.

Alex Walsh also stood on the medal stand on Monday, taking silver in the 200m IM (2:08.58). It is her fifth career World Aquatics Championship medal of her career and first in Singapore. She is also the first American woman to win three world championship medals in the 200 IM (gold 2022 Budapest, silver 2023 Fukuoka, silver 2025 Singapore).

Kate Douglass swam the prelims and semifinals of the 100 Breast, posting a 1:05.49 in the semis to earn the top seed in Tuesday’s final. The mark was a personal best for Douglass, and a program record.

Sunday, July 27 Recap

Alumna Kate Douglass and rising sophomore Anna Moesch both earned silver medals with the women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay in the first day of competition. Moesch and Douglass swam in the prelims, giving the Americans the top time of 3:33.57, with Douglass clocking a 52.04 on her split.

Douglass swam the second leg of the final, with the American squad trailing the Australians until the final leg when Torri Huske put the Americans ahead, only to have the Olivia Wunsh surge at the end to outtouch Huske by 0.44. Gretchen Walsh was slated to swim the third leg of the relay, but was a late medical scratch, replaced by Erin Gemmell.

Walsh swam in the semis of the 100m Butterfly earlier in the session, tying for the top time with a 56.07. Huske had been slated to compete in the 100 Fly, but scratched the event to concentrate on the 4×100 Free Relay.

Alex Walsh also began competition on the opening day, swimming the 200m IM. Walsh had the second-fastest time in the semifinals, posting a 2:08.49.

Finals for the 100 Fly and 200 IM will take place during the 7 a.m. ET session on Monday, July 28.

Douglass will swim in her first individual event, the 100m Breast, during Sunday’s 10 p.m. ET prelims session. Rising senior Jack Aikins is also scheduled to swim in the prelims of the 100m Back. All sessions stream live on Peacock.

Cavaliers Competing at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships

• Jack Aikins (USA): 100m Backstroke, 200m Backstroke
• Aimee Canny (RSA): 200m Freestyle, 200m IM
• Sara Curtis (ITA): 50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle
• Claire Curzan (USA): 200m Backstroke
• Kate Douglass (USA): 50m Butterfly, 100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke
• Katie Grimes (USA): 400m IM
• Thomas Heilman (USA): 100m Butterfly
• Anna Moesch (USA): 4×100 Free Relay
• Alex Walsh (USA): 200m Breaststroke, 200m IM
• Gretchen Walsh (USA): 50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle, 50m Butterfly, 100m Butterfly

Lana Pudar (BIH) qualified for the 100m Butterfly and 200m Butterfly, but will not be competing

CAVALIER EVENT SCHEDULE

July 26, 10 pm

• W 100 Fly Prelims
• W 200 IM Prelims
• 4×100 Free Relay Prelims

July 27, 7 am

• W 100 Fly Semis
• W 200 IM Semis
• 4×100 Free Relay Finals

July 27, 10 pm

• W 100 Breast Prelims
• M 100 Back Prelims

July 28, 7 am

• W 100 Breast Semis
• W 100 Fly Finals
• W 200 IM Finals
• M 100 Back Semis

July 28, 10 pm

• W 200 Free Prelims

July 29, 7 am

• W 200 Free Semis
• W 100 Breast Finals

July 29, 10 pm

• Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay Prelims

July 30, 7 am

• W 200 Free Finals
• Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay Finals

July 30, 10 pm

• W 100 Free Prelims
• W 200 Breast Prelims
• M 200 Back Prelims
• W 4×200 Free Relay Prelims

July 31, 7 am

• W 100 Free Semis
• W 200 Breast Semis
• W 4×200 Free Relay Finals

July 31, 10 pm

• M 100 Fly Prelims
• W 200 Back Prelims
• W 50 Fly Prelims

Aug 1, 7 am

• W 100 Free Finals
• W 200 Breast Finals
• W 200 Back Semis
• W 50 Fly Semis

Aug 1, 10 pm

• W 50 Free Prelims
• Mixed 4×100 Free Relay Prelims

Aug 2, 7 am

• W 200 Back Finals
• W 50 Fly Finals
• W 50 Free Semis
• Mixed 4×100 Free Relay Finals

Aug 2, 10 pm

• W 400IM Prelims
• 4×100 Medley Relay Prelims

Aug 3, 7 am

• W 50 Free Final
• W 400 IM Final
• 4×100 Medley Relay Final