Walsh blazes to 50 fly win as the US opens Pan Pacs with 3 sweeping 1-2 finishes

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Gretchen Walsh won the women's 50-meter butterfly over teammate Kate Douglass to lead a trio of 1-2 finishes by the United States on opening night of the Pan Pacific Championships on Wednesday.

Walsh touched in 24.65 seconds, bettering her time of 24.91 from the morning preliminaries at the outdoor pool in Irvine, California. Douglass became the third woman to break the 25-second barrier in the event with a prelim time of 24.99. In the final, she finished second at 25.06.

Walsh was already in the sub-25 club, with the American record of 24.51 seconds. The other member is Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, who holds the world record of 24.43 seconds.

Canada's Taylor Ruck took bronze in 25.23 in the first Pan Pacs held since 2018.

The once-every-four-years event was canceled in 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s event was moved from Canada to Southern California to give the region a major international meet ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where swimming will be held at SoFi Stadium in front of nearly 40,000 spectators.

American teammates Katharine Berkoff and world record holder Regan Smith finished 1-2 in the women's 100-meter backstroke. Berkoff won in 57.93 seconds. Smith was second in 58.11, slower than the time of 57.86 she swam in prelims.

Ruck earned her second bronze of the night with a time of 58.40.

With 28-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps looking on, U.S. teammates Luke Hobson and Gabriel Jett finished 1-2 in the men's 200 freestyle.

Hobson touched first in 1:43.85 with a stunned Jett second in a personal-best 1:43.96. Zhang Zhanshuo of China was third.

Lani Pallister of Australia won the women's 200 free in a course-record 1:53.67, beating Canada's Summer McIntosh, who was second at 1:53.86. Erika Fairweather of New Zealand was third.

Ben Armbruster of Australia won the men's 50 fly in 22.75 seconds over Van Mathias of the U.S.

The Pan Pacs limit each nation to just two swimmers in every championship final as a way to ensure greater representation among countries. That means swimmers can’t afford to ease through the morning prelims since a full-on effort could be required to make the evening final.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports