Freestyle record beaten for second time in nine days

American swimmer Gretchen Walsh has broken the women’s 50m freestyle world record just nine days after her training partner Kate Douglass set the mark.

Walsh clocked 23.55 seconds at the Sette Colli meeting in Rome on Sunday, beating Douglass’ time from 19 June by 0.04 seconds.

The pair train together at the University of Virginia.

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, who held the world record before Douglass, finished second behind Walsh in 23.86.

Walsh, 23, also holds the the 50m freestyle short-course world record as well as the 100m butterfly long-course mark.

She won two relay gold medals and two silvers at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.