Kate Douglass Posts 20.34 50 Free Relay Split, #2 All

DAY 1 FINALS HEAT SHEETS

Kate Douglass is so good at swimming to the point where she just posted the second-fastest 50 free relay split of all-time, and she's not even swimming the event individually.

To open up the 2023 NCAA Championships, Douglass clocked a 20.34 to anchor Virginia's 200 medley relay that broke the US Open, NCAA, and American record in a time of 1:31.51. The only swimmer who has been faster than her on a relay is Anna Hopkin who split a 20.27 at the 2020 SEC Championships.

All-Time Relay Performers, 50-Yard Free

That being said, there was a touchpad error when Hopkin set her record-splitting split (which was still considered legal), so how much faster she really was than Douglass today is something that we will never figure out.

Coming into NCAAs, Douglass's fastest relay split was a 20.49, which she swam to anchor Virginia's 200 medley relay at ACCs this year. That split had made her the sixth-fastest relay performer of all time.

After winning two straight 50 free NCAA titles, Douglass will be opting to swim the 200 IM tomorrow individually for the first time since the cancelled 2020 NCAA Championships. Her best time on a flat start in the 50 free is a 20.84, which is 0.01 of a second slower than Gretchen Walsh‘s 20.83 US Open, NCAA, and American record.