At the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California, American swimmer Kate Douglass set a world record in the 50-meter freestyle during the preliminary heats. This was reported by infohub.kz.
The 24-year-old from Pelham, a suburb of New York City, touched the wall in 23.49 seconds in her heat at the outdoor pool. This time bettered the mark of 23.55 set by her teammate Gretchen Walsh at an international meet in Rome in June.
This is the second time Douglass has lowered the world record in the sprint event. She first did it on June 19 at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet in Indianapolis, posting a time of 23.59. Nine days later, Walsh lowered it again.
Douglass is a five-time Olympic medalist. She earned silver in the 50 free at the 2024 world championships but did not compete in the event at the 2024 Paris Games.
In the heat after Douglass, Walsh swam 23.78 seconds, making them the top two qualifiers for the evening final on the final day of competition in Irvine. This was the first individual world record set at the meet, which includes swimmers from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, and China.