Nashville’s Gretchen Walsh is making quite a splash in her first Olympic games.
The Harpeth Hall grad captured silver medals in her first two events over the weekend at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. She finished second in the women’s 100-meter butterfly on Sunday after helping the U.S. to a second-place finish in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay on Saturday. Walsh has two events remaining — the 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter freestyle.
Her older sister, fellow Harpeth Hall grad Alex Walsh, will participate in the 200-meter individual medley Friday, Aug. 2.
The two young swimmers have gone from Harpeth Hall to the University of Virginia to the world stage
Gretchen Walsh, 21, had been favored to win gold in the 100-meter butterfly competition, as she holds both the world record (55.18) and the Olympic record (55.38) in the event. The former mark was set in the U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis last month, while the latter was set Saturday in the 100-meter butterfly semifinals. But she finished second in the final, clocking a time of 55.63 that was just behind fellow American Torri Huske (55.59).
“It’s really, really cool,” Walsh said on NBC after the race. “I feel like the crowd has been amazing. … I’m just happy that we’re both going to be 1-2, USA, on the podium tonight.”
Added Huske, who barely missed a medal at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo: “I’m so thankful to be here. To do it with Gretchen is just amazing. I’ve had a long road, but I’ve had a lot of support and I’m so thankful for it.”
Huske then invited Walsh up to the top of podium during the medal ceremony, the two Americans standing side by side.
Alex Walsh, 22, was a silver medalist at the 2021 Olympic games in Tokyo, finishing second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:08.65.
The two sisters compete at the University of Virginia, where they have been a part of four straight NCAA championships.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
