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See all of our 2024 Swammy Awards here.
If we had selected this award prior to the 2024 SC World Championships, it probably would have been much harder to select a clear winner. After all, the US women were certainly the strongpoint for the entire nation this year, leading the team at both the Olympics and World Championships. However, after a standout performance at the 2024 World Championships to cap-off a breakout year, Gretchen Walsh is the 2024 Swammy Award winner for US Female Swimmer of the Year.
Walsh is just coming off an incredible run at the World Championships, which saw her take down 11 World Records, including 9 individually. Her accomplishments at that one meet could easily be enough to claim this prize. Here’s a quick look at how her week went.
Gretchen Walsh’s 2024 SC World Championships Wrapped:
- 5 individual gold medals
- 50 free, 100 free, 50 fly, 100 fly, 100 IM
- 2 relay gold medals
- Women’s 4×100 medley relay, women’s 4×100 freestyle relay
- 9 individual world records
- 2 relay world records
- Most World Records ever set at a Championship Meet
- Previously held by Mark Spitz as he set 7 World Records at the 1972 Olympic Games and Michael Phelps who also set 7 World Records at the 2008 Olympic Games, albeit in a supersuit
- First swimmer to ever break the World Record in the prelims, semis, and finals of the same race
- 2nd American woman to win 7 gold medals at a single edition of the World Championships
- First American woman to win 5 individual golds at a single edition of the World Championships
- First woman to go under 54 and 53 seconds in the 100m butterfly
- First woman to go under 24 seconds in the 50m butterfly
- World Aquatics female swimmer of the meet
- Over $290,000 in estimated earnings
- More than every country aside from the United States
Walsh might have topped-off her 2024 run with the World Championships, but she had plenty of highlights throughout the year as well.
Prior to this year, Walsh had been on the doorstep of an international breakthrough for many years. In 2021, she failed to make the US Olympic team, despite being one of the favorites to do so. The same occurred in 2022, as she failed to qualify for the World Championships team. In 2023, she finally got her opportunity, qualifying for the US World Championship team in multiple events and eventually taking home one medal of each color. With strong performances at the NCAA level consistently, we figured Walsh would be a strong contender on the international stage. Nobody could’ve predicted how much of a force she would evolve into.
Competing for Virginia, Walsh kicked-off 2024 with a record siege at the 2024 ACC and 2024 NCAA Championships, throwing down one of the greatest NCAA performances of all time. Starting on the first night of the ACC Championships, Walsh threw down the 3rd-fastest performance of all-time in the 200 freestyle leading-off UVA’s 800 freestyle relay with a 1:40.23. Remarkably, that was just the first of her standout performances from that meet as she then became the first woman to split sub-20 seconds on a relay, dropping a 19.95 on UVA’s 200 freestyle relay, helping the team to an NCAA record of 1:23.63. Walsh also set a new NCAA record in the individual 50 freestyle, 20.57.
In the 100 butterfly, she set a personal best of 48.25, taking down former teammate Kate Douglass’ US Open and NCAA record marks. Walsh then took down another NCAA/US Open record in the 100 backstroke, swimming a time of 48.10 leading-off UVA’s 400 medley relay. To close the meet, she took down her 4th individual NCAA record of the competition, taking a half-second off Simone Manuel’s mark with a 45.15.
These standout performances were breath-taking for many swim fans, reminiscent of Caeleb Dressel’s 2018 NCAA Championship performance, and Walsh hadn’t even hit NCAAs. In fact, her performance at ACCs was just foreshadowing for her insane performance at the NCAA Championships.
Walsh sent fire through the world, opening NCAAs with a monster 22.10 in the 50 backstroke leading-off UVA’s 200 medley relay, the fastest performance in history by .4 seconds. Then, the records began tumbling faster than most could keep count. When the dust settled, Walsh exited the NCAA Championships with individual titles and NCAA/US Open Records in the 50 freestyle (20.37), 100 freestyle (44.83), and the 100 butterfly (47.42). In the 100 freestyle, she became the first woman to ever break 45 seconds, while becoming the 1st woman to break 48 seconds in the 100 butterfly (by a wide margin). Walsh’s performance landed her the CSCAA D1 Women’s Swimmer of the Year honors as well.
Following her NCAA campaign, Walsh entered US Olympic Trials with a huge surge of confidence, which clearly showed the second that she entered the water for the 100 butterfly. After easily qualifying first for the semi-finals, Walsh threw down an absurd 55.18 in the semis, shattering Sarah Sjostrom’s World Record by almost a half-second. Though she was slightly off of that time in the finals, Walsh still easily won the race to qualify for her first Olympic team.
Walsh also added an individual berth to her schedule for Paris in the 50 freestyle, finishing 2nd to Simone Manuel. After finishing 3rd in the 100 freestyle to earn a 400 freestyle relay berth, she was later granted the individual spot in the event as winner Kate Douglass opted out of it.
After many years of defeat, Walsh finally found herself at her first Olympic Games in Paris. She opened the meet with the 400 freestyle relay, splitting 52.55 to help the US win the silver medal, adding her first Olympic medal to her collection. Following that performance, she led both the heats and semis of the 100 butterfly, taking the top seed into the final. In the final, she was out like a rocket as usual, but was run down by teammate Torri Huske over the final 5 meters for the gold. Despite this, Walsh still threw down one of the fastest performances in history with a 55.63, earning her first individual Olympic medal in the process as well. Individually, Walsh also finished 4th in the 50 freestyle and 8th in the 100 freestyle.
On the relays in Paris, Walsh played a key role. In addition to helping the team in the women’s 400 freestyle relay, she was also a key component on both the mixed 4×100 medley relay and women’s 4×100 medley relay, swimming butterfly on both to pick up 2 gold medals as well. Walsh notably contributed a 55.03 split on the women’s 4×100 medley relay, leading the team to a massive World Record performance of 3:49.63.
Overall, Walsh’s year included 11 individual World Records (1 LC, 10 SC), 4 relay World Records, 4 Olympic medals (2 G, 2 S), and 7 SC World Championship gold medals. In one of the more dominant years for the US women, Walsh was a standout all-around.
Honorable Mentions:
- Regan Smith – Smith was the only other US swimmer to set an individual World Record in the long course pool. At the US Olympic Trials meet, she recorded a time of 57.13 to win the 100 backstroke, reclaiming her World Record for the first time since Kaylee McKeown broke it back in 2021. In Paris, Smith claimed silver in both the 100 and 200 backstroke behind McKeown, and added a silver in the 200 butterfly, along with gold medals in the mixed 4×100 medley relay and women’s 4×100 medley relay. Smith also broke the World Records in the SCM versions of the 50, 100, and 200 backstroke throughout the 2024 World Cup and 2024 World Championships, sweeping the events at Worlds to come out of the meet with 7 medals (4G, 2S, 1B).
- Torri Huske – Had this award simply been selected based off of Olympic performances, Huske would’ve been the front-runner. In Paris, Huske led all US athletes, across every sport, with a 5 medal haul (3 G, 2 S). That included individual gold in the 100 butterfly, where she upset Walsh to improve upon her 4th place finish from Tokyo. Huske also picked-up a surprise silver medal in the 100 freestyle with a personal best of 52.29. Throughout the meet, she was a key player for the US team in the various relay events. In the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay, she helped the US claim a silver medal in new American Record fashion with the team’s fastest split (52.06). She then anchored both the mixed 4×100 medley relay and women’s 4×100 medley relay to gold in World Record fashion.
- Katie Ledecky – Ledecky didn’t set any World Records in 2024, but was still one of the mainstays of USA Swimming at the Olympics, claiming gold in both the 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle, adding an Olympic record in the latter of the two events. For Ledecky, her medal in the 800 free marked her 4th-consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event, going back to 2012. Ledecky also picked up a silver medal in the 4×200 freestyle relay and a bronze in the 400 freestyle, bringing her career Olympic medal haul up to 14, including 9 golds. Following her performance in Paris, Ledekcy now stands as the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, and (tied as) the woman with the most gold medals in Olympic history.
- Kate Douglass – At the Olympics, Douglass claimed her first individual medal by winning the women’s 200 breaststroke (2:19.24) in American Record fashion. Douglass also left Paris with an individual silver medal in the 200 IM, along with a gold and silver medals from the women’s 4×100 medley and 4×100 freestyle relays. In short course, Douglass backed-up her Olympic performance with a new World Record in the 200 breaststroke (2:12.50), taking over 2 seconds off of Rebecca Soni’s previous record throughout the season. In the 200 IM, Douglass added another individual World Record to her resume, taking down Katinka Hosszu’s previous mark with a 2:01.63. Douglass ended SC Worlds with 7 medals, including 4 golds, 2 silvers, and 1 bronze. She also won the overall points title on the World Cup Series, earning the title in a narrow victory over Smith.
