Douglass Clocks 49.64 Freestyle World Record

Kate Douglass lowered her own short‑course world record in the women’s 100 m freestyle to 49.64 on Saturday night at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont, Illinois. The swim shaved 0.29 seconds off the 49.93 she set at a World Cup stop in Toronto in 2025.

Built on the first length

Douglass turned at the 50‑metre wall in 23.52, a split 0.41 seconds inside her old record pace. She came home in 26.12 and still finished well clear of the old mark. Training partner Gretchen Walsh finished second in 50.61, leaving a margin of 0.97 seconds between the two NYAC teammates. Both of Douglass’s individual 50‑metre splits were faster than those of Australia’s Cate Campbell, the next‑quickest performer in history.

Liberty Clark took third in 50.94, while Rylee Erisman’s 51.22 in fourth set a world junior record in a race dominated by the winner. Camille Spink and Simone Manuel followed in fifth and sixth.

Two records, one barrier

Douglass first broke the 50‑second wall with her 49.93 in Toronto, and she remains the only swimmer to have done so. Earlier in the meet she matched Walsh’s 50 m freestyle short‑course world record of 22.75, making the 100 m mark her second world record of the week. The five‑time Olympic medallist also won the 200 m breaststroke in 2:14.12 and the 200 m individual medley in 2:01.66, a U.S. Open record. The four‑day trials produced six world records in total.

The meet secured her place for the World Short‑Course Championships in Beijing in December. On a late October night in Westmont, Douglass simply made her own record a sharper target for everyone else.