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≡ TYR PRO SWIM SERIES ≡
After a brilliant Friday session that saw an American Record from ascending superstar Gretchen Walsh in the women’s 50 m Butterfly, it was a record Saturday on the final day of the Tyr Pro Swim Series in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida as the meet finished on Friday and Saturday with seven world-leading performances and three world records:
● Women/50 m Free: 24.33, Gretchen Walsh (USA) ~ World Leader
● Women/200 m Free: 1:54.93, Claire Weinstein (USA) ~ World Leader
● Women/800 m Free: 8:04.12, Katie Ledecky (USA) ~ World Record
● Women/100 m Back: 57.46, Regan Smith (USA) ~ World Leader
● Women/50 m Fly: 24.93, Gretchen Walsh (USA) ~ American Record
● Women/100 m Fly: 55.09, Walsh ~ World Record (heats)
● Women/100 m Fly: 54.60, Walsh ~ World Record
Walsh, 22, got a world record in 2024 at the U.S. Trials in the women’s 100 m Butterfly, then finished second at the Olympic Games to teammate Torri Huske. Then she won seven golds at the 2024 World 25 m Championships in Budapest, but headed into history in Ft. Lauderdale:
● On Friday, she won the women’s 50 m Fly final in 24.93, an American Record and the no. 2 performance of all time. She said afterwards:
“I think that going into the season I have been really close to a lot of different barriers. There’s the 55 mark in the 100 Fly, the 53 mark in the 100 Free, and the 25 mark in the 50 Fly. It’s been cool to surpass two of those here, and I am really happy about that.
“I love following in the footsteps of Sarah Sjoestrom [SWE: 24.43 world record in the 50 m Fly]. She’s such an idol to me, and it’s cool to be in the same sentence as her. She’s an incredible person to race and follow in her footsteps.”
Behind Walsh in the race were Olympic stars Kate Douglass (25.39, no. 2 in 2025) and Regan Smith (25.63, no. 4).
● On Saturday, Walsh went wild. In the morning heats, she blew up her own world record in the 100 m Fly in 55.09, shaving 0.09 from her 2024 world mark at the Trials.
● In the final, Walsh did it again, winning in 54.60 (!), and the first sub-55, giving her the top five swims in history at the distance! Huske, the Olympic gold medalist, was second in 56.59, now no. 3 in the world this year.
● Walsh finished the day with a win in the 50 m Free in 24.33, the 2025 world leader, ahead of Kasia Wasick (POL) and Huske at 24.47, tied for world no. 5 now. She had already won the 100 m Free on Thursday in 52.90, also the world leader in 2025 and finished with four world leads in the 50-100 Frees and 50-100 Flys.
Ledecky had already had a brilliant meet, swimming the no. 2 women’s 1,500 m Free ever on Wednesday (15:24.51) behind only her own world record, then beating Canadian star Summer McIntosh in the women’s 400 m Free in a world-leading 3:56.81 on Thursday. Ledecky said afterwards, “I didn’t know if I ever was going to be 3:56 again. All the credit to Summer, it’s always a great race when we’re next to each other. I’m just really happy with all the work I’ve put in to get to this point. I just have to thank all my coaches and teammates at Florida.”
On Friday, it took a world-leading 1:54.93 from 18-year-old Paris relay silver medalist Claire Weinstein to beat Ledecky in the 200 m Free, with Ledecky’s 1:55.51 now no. 3 in 2025.
Saturday was another Ledecky special, in the 800 m Free in which she is the four-time Olympic champion. And she turned back the clock again, taking down her own 8:04.79 world record from 2016, finishing in 8:04.12! She now has the top 10 performances ever in the event and 32 of the top 36! All this at age 28!
Let’s not forget eight-time Olympic medalist Smith, who won the 200 Fly on Thursday (2:05.38: no. 2 in 2025), the 200 Back on Friday in 2:06.32, no. 2 in 2025 and won the 100 Back on Saturday in 57.46, the world leader, ahead of Katharine Berkoff in 58.79 (no. 3) and Canadian star Kylie Masse (no. 4).
A little lost among all the glitter were Friday wins by Americans Skyler Smith in the 50 m Breast (30.49, no. 3 in 2025) and Emma Weyant in the 400 m Medley (4:33.95, no. 2 in 2025).
On Saturday, Paris 200 m Breast gold medalist Douglass won that race in 2:20.78 to move to no. 2 in 2025, ahead of Alex Walsh (Gretchen’s sister) in 2:22.91. Tokyo silver medalist Alex Walsh then won the 200 m Medley in 2:08.84 for no. 3 in 2025, just ahead of Smith (2:10.25, no. 9).
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What about the men? They swam too, with strong results, but less spectacular than the women.
Olympic 800-1,500 gold medalist Bobby Finke tripled, adding to his 1,500 m Free win on Wednesday with the 400 m Medley on Friday in 4:13.67, ahead of Olympic winner Leon Marchand (FRA: 4:13.86), who made his first return to the pool since Paris. Finke was an easy winner in the 800 m Free on Saturday at 7:50.79.
Breaststroke star Denis Petrashov (KGZ) took the 50 m win in 26.94 on Friday (no. 5 in 2025) ahead of Michael Andrew of the U.S. (27.01, no. 6), and then the 200 m Breast on Saturday in 2:10.29, giving him a sweep.
Versatile American star Shaine Casas added to his 100 m Free win on Thursday with the 200 Medley title in 1:56.52, no. 4 in 2025, beating Marchand (1:57.27) and two-time Worlds silver winner Carson Foster of the U.S. (1:58.78). Foster won the men’s 200 m Free in 1:46.46, with Casas winning the B final in 1:46.49, the second-fastest time of the meet!
Canada’s Ilya Kharun won the 50 m Fly (23.09) and 100 m Fly (50.42) to move to no. 3 and no. 2 in the world in those events. Hungary’s Hubert Kos, the Paris Olympic 200 m Back winner, took the 100 Back (53.14) and 200 Back (1:56.45).
Noticed, but a little lost in all the excitement was the return of nine-time Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel in the sprints. He skipped the 100s, but finished fifth in the 50 m Free in 22.21 (Andrej Barna/SRB won in 21.83) and fourth in the 50 m Fly (23.32), won by Kharun.
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