American star swimmer and four-time Olympic medallist Gretchen Walsh has scripted history at the Fort Lauderdale Open on Saturday. The 23-year-old has set a new world record in the 100m butterfly, clocking 54.33.

She has completely dominated the 100m Fly event. She owns the top 13 best timings in the event. The previous record was also set by her in May 2025 when she completed in 54.60.

Walsh was surprised that she had broken the world record, revealing that she had not prepared for the meet as much as she would have liked.

"I just think it was the vibes in the arena, maybe I don't know. I really didn't prepare for this meet the way that normally a world record swim would be prepared for," Walsh said in an interview with Swim Swam.

She also appreciated the crowd at the Fort Lauderdale Open as she revealed using their energy to fuel her final 50m in the race.

"I'm over the moon happy with the way I executed it and just kind of used the crowd. I heard them after I broke out for my second 50, and I was like, now's my time to just turn on the jets and bring it home, and I definitely did that, and it was a time that I was wanting to go all summer, and I think that just doing it now, there's no time like the present for something like that," she added.

Gretchen Walsh has broken the 100m butterfly record thrice in 12 months

Hailed as the 'Queen of Butterfly,' Gretchen Walsh broke the world record twice in the 100m fly last year at the Fort Lauderdale Open. This year, she has returned to the same venue and lowered her own record in the same event.

Walsh first broke the world record at the 2024 Olympic trials, clocking 55.18, breaking the previous record of Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom's timing of 55.48. Later, she broke the record twice at the Fort Lauderdale Open last year. Firstly in the prelims (55.09) and then in the finals (54.60).

After she broke the record on Saturday for the fourth time, she is more than a second clear of the second-fastest performer in history (still Sjostrom’s 55.48). This is the largest gap in any women’s or men’s 100-meter event.

Walsh is a 2024 Olympic silver medallist and 2025 World Champion in the 100m fly.

Read more at Daily Swimmers Club!

Written by

Atrayo Bhattacharya

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi