Pelham native Kate Douglass became women’s champion of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup after breaking the U.S. short-course 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle records in the competition’s final meet in Incheon, South Korea, on Friday and Saturday.
Douglass racked up 178.5 points with her performances in world cup races held in China. South Korea and Singapore since Oct. 18. Short-course meets are held in 25-meter pools, while long-course races, such as the ones at the Olympics, are contested in 50-meter pools.
The PMHS alumna finished the 50m butterfly race with a time of 24.42, just missing the world record of 24.38 set by Swedish swimmer Therese Alshammar in 2009. Douglass beat her own U.S. record of 24.54, which she set on the opening leg of the world cup in Shanghai, according to SwimSwam.
Douglass finished the 100m freestyle race with a time of 50.82, about half a second behind the world record of 50.25 held by Australia’s Cate Campbell since 2017, said SwimSwam. The previous American record of 51.26 was set by Abbey Weitzeil in 2020.
Douglass’s new U.S. records followed her world-record performance in the short-course 200m breaststroke at the world cup on Thursday.
Her success this week comes after her stellar performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she won gold medals in the women’s 200m breaststroke and the women’s 4x100m medley relay and silver medals in the women’s 200m IM and the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay.
Douglass also holds the U.S. records in the 50m freestyle and 200m breaststroke in long-course pools, as well as in the 200m IM in short course.
