Opinion | The author's opinion does not necessarily reflect Sarah Palin's view.
Gretchen Walsh smashed the women’s 100m butterfly world record at the US Olympic swimming trials.
In her semifinal race, the 21-year-old American clocked a time of 55.18 seconds to break the previous mark of 55.48 set by Sarah Sjöström in 2016.
Walsh did not expect to set the record but was “absolutely in awe” of her achievement.
“I didn’t think I was going to do it tonight,” Walsh said. “I just knew that I wanted to go a best time, and now, here I am, world record holder. It’s actually insane.
“I think I was probably the most shocked of all the people I know. I think that they all had confidence in me. … I was absolutely in awe. Totally surprised.”
She went on to qualify for the US Olympic team the following day.
The semifinal also saw fast swims from Regan Smith and Torri Huske, who also advanced to the final.
“It’s definitely been an emotional night,” Walsh said. “Luckily I have had experiences like this — obviously not breaking a world record but just trying to keep my emotions controlled.
“I have a time where I’m going to put my phone down tonight and just let it be and hopefully get a good night’s rest. But I warmed down, and I iced, and [stuck] to my recovery routine. So I’m hoping tomorrow night I just get a spot on the team because that’s really what I came here to do.”
Meanwhile, Aaron Shackell, 19, became the first American qualifier by winning the men’s 400m freestyle, and Katie Ledecky easily won the women’s 400m free to make her fourth consecutive Olympic team.
