Records shattered as swimmer makes $39k in 24 seconds, breaks Aussie record

Six world records have been broken on the opening day of the world swimming championships as a USA sprinter rewrote the history books.

Records tumbled on the opening day of the world short course swimming championships in Budapest with Gretchen Walsh, Noe Ponti, Summer McIntosh, Kate Douglass and two US relay teams breaking the old marks.

Walsh, a 21-year-old American, broke three world record during the day.

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She shattered the 50m short course butterfly world record in her morning heat, swimming 24.02 seconds to slash 0.32sec off the record set by Swede Therese Alshammar in 2009, in the era of the now banned supersuits.

In the evening, Walsh, who won two Olympic relay golds in the summer, dipped under 24 seconds in the semi-finals with a time of 23.94.

It was the oldest short course mark remaining in the record books, with most broken in this decade.

She then wondered how she could go faster in Wednesday’s final.

“I don’t know what I am going to fix going into tomorrow but I am going to have to find something!” she said.

Gretchen Walsh won $25,000 for her 24-second 50m butterfly. (Photo by David Balogh/Getty Images)

Summer McIntosh of Canada celebrates after breaking the world record in the Women's 400m Freestyle. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

In the next race, Swiss swimmer Ponti broke the men’s 50m fly record for the third time this year when he won his semi-final in 21.43.

McIntosh, a triple gold medallist at the Paris Olympics, obliterated the women’s short course 400-meter freestyle world record to take the first gold of the championships.

The Canadian 18-year-old won in 3min 50.25sec to take 1.05sec off the record set by China’s Li Bingjie in October 2022.

Australian Lani Pallister took silver, 3.48sec behind, with Canadian Mary-Sophie Hardy third.

American Kate Douglass made it four world records in four races when she won the women’s 200m medley in a time of 2:01.63, 0.23sec inside the mark set by Hungarian Katinka Hosszu in 2014.

Alex Walsh, older sister of Gretchen, was third, 1.02 back, with Briton Abbie Wood third.

Gretchen Walsh claimed a third world record, and Douglass a second, as the evening ended with the Americans sweeping the 100m freestyle relays.

Gold medallist Summer McIntosh of Canada, silver medallist Lani Pallister of Australia and bronze medallist Mary-Sophie Harvey of Canada pose with their medals after women’s 400m freestyle. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

The USA broke Australia’s 4x100m freestyle world record. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Douglass led off and Walsh swum the anchor leg as the US women came home in 3:25.01 to shave 0.42 seconds off Australia’s world record.

Australia’s team of Meg Harris, Alex Perkins, Milla Jansen and Pallister were second 3.24sec slower on the night. Canada, with Harvey and McIntosh swimming the first two legs, were third.

Pallister, a distance swimmer, joked on Instagram it was “likely my first, last and most enjoyable 4x100” relay.

That's $100k worth of World Record bonuses so far. https://t.co/gGPpHnVe6v

— Braden Keith (@Braden_Keith) December 10, 2024

In the men’s race, the American’s won in 3:01.66, breaking the old mark by more than a second. Again the former record holders, in this case Italy were second, 1.99 behind. Poland were third.

Douglass led off in the women’s final as the Americans came home in 3:25.0 to break Australia’s world record by 0.42sec. The Australians finished second on Tuesday, 3.34sec behind.

Lani Pallister, Alexandria Perkins, Milla Jansen and Meg Harris won silver in the 4x100m women’s relay. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

World Aquatics awards US$25,000 (A$39,000) in prize money for each world record broken, so it was a lucrative night for swimmers with six new world records set.

Swimming commentator Kyle Sockwell wrote on X: “$50,000 already in the bank for Gretchen Walsh thanks to TWO WORLD RECORDS in the event in ONE DAY……and she still has the final tomorrow.”

In the night’s other finals, American Shaine Casas won the men’s 200m medley and Tunisian Ahmed Jaouadi edged German former Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock to win the men’s 1500m.

Many of Australia’s top swimmers including Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown and Kyle Chalmers aren’t competing at the world short course titles as they take an extended break following the Paris Olympics.