Katharine Berkoff has her first individual world record. The American swam 25.21 in the women's 50m backstroke at the U.S. Short Course World Championship Trials in Westmont, Illinois. The time lowered Regan Smith's 2024 world record of 25.23 by two hundredths.
Curzan pushes her all the way to the wall
Berkoff had little room for error. Claire Curzan stayed with her the whole length and touched second in 25.26, five hundredths back. Curzan's swim fell only three hundredths short of Smith's old record.
Regan Smith skipped the 50 back that evening to swim the 200 butterfly, so the record passed from a meet-record holder who was not in the eight-swimmer final. Olivia Smoliga, a past world champion in the event, took third in 25.70, with Isabelle Stadden fourth in 25.81.
Two weeks earlier Berkoff's best stood at 25.43, swum at a meet in Charlottesville. She cut almost a quarter of a second from that mark. She said she executed her race plan far better than in the prelims, with her attention on her underwater kick.
From Olympic bronze to the top of the list
The swim puts Berkoff first on the all-time short course list, ahead of Smith, Maggie MacNeil (25.25) and Curzan. She already held the long-course 50m back world title, won in Singapore in 2025, and claimed her first major international title in the 100m back at Pan Pacific in August 2026. She took Olympic 100m back bronze in 2024, 32 years to the day after her father, Dave, won the same medal.
Curzan became the fourth-fastest woman in history, behind Berkoff, Smith and MacNeil. The old U.S. Open record, 25.37, had belonged to Gretchen Walsh since 2024. Before the meet Berkoff ranked inside the all-time top 10.
"This is my first individual world record," Berkoff said. "It has been a goal for a long time."
She has her place on the U.S. team for the Short Course World Championships in Beijing, held from 1 to 6 December, where she is among the medal favourites. The 50m backstroke joins the Olympic programme for the first time in 2028.
