Oct 18 (Reuters) – American Gretchen Walsh said she had surprised herself by bettering her own short course 50 metres freestyle world record, adding that she was hoping to go even quicker at the world championships in Beijing this year.

Walsh’s time of 22.75 seconds at the UVA SCM Pro Am in Charlottesville, Virginia on Friday saw her improve on her previous best mark of 22.83, set at the short-course world championships in Budapest in 2024.

“A lot has happened since then, a lot of accomplishments, so I think yesterday’s world record meant a lot more (than the previous record),” four-time Olympic medallist Walsh told SwimSwam on Saturday.

“I’ve been training really, really well recently, and I think that I’ve been putting in really great work into the pool. So I knew that was going to pay off. 

“But the goal is to be breaking world records and doing all of this good stuff at the world championships in December in Beijing. I wasn’t expecting a world record. I was really happy with that swim, and I’m really looking forward to resting and being able to go faster than that.”

In long-course swimming, Walsh owns the 100m butterfly record and was also part of world record-setting US teams in both the women’s and mixed 4×100 m medley relays.

(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru)