Kate Douglass lowered her own world record in the women’s 50m freestyle for the second time in one day, winning the Pan Pacific Championships final in 23.19sec.
In the morning preliminaries, the 24-year-old American swam 23.49 to take the mark away from teammate Gretchen Walsh, who finished second in the evening final in 23.74. Australia’s reigning world champion Meg Harris was third in 23.89.
Douglass returned 25 minutes later to finish second in the 200 breaststroke. She rallied down the stretch but couldn’t catch Alexanne Lepage of Canada, who led the entire race and touched in 2:21.73. Douglass finished in 2:22.57.
Walsh had owned the 50 free record of 23.55 since setting it in June at an international meet in Rome.
It is the third time Douglass has lowered the world mark in the sprint race. She first did it on June 19 at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet in Indianapolis, posting a time of 23.59. Nine days later, Walsh lowered it again.
Douglass is a five-time Olympic medallist. She earned silver in the 50 free at the 2024 world championships but didn’t compete in the event at the 2024 Paris Games.
It was the second individual world record set at the meet that includes swimmers from the US, Australia, Canada, Japan and China, among others.
The men’s 50 free was won by Jamie Jack of Australia in a championship record of 21.35. American Jack Alexy took silver in 21.42.
Yu Yiting of China defeated a strong field including world record-holder Summer McIntosh to win the 200 individual medley.
Yu was under world-record pace on the opening butterfly leg before American Regan Smith took over the lead on the backstroke. Yu moved back in front on the breaststroke and held off McIntosh in the closing meters. Yu’s time of 2:07.45 set a championship record in the outdoor pool in Irvine.
McIntosh, the Canadian star whose lone individual victory of the week was in the 400 IM, took silver in 2:07.47. American Alex Walsh, the older sister of Gretchen Walsh, earned bronze in 2:07.66. Smith finished fourth.
McIntosh claimed silver in the 200 freestyle and bronze in the 4 x 200 freestyle relay. She surprisingly failed to qualify for the 400 free championship final, but finished first in the ‘B’ final.
“It wasn’t a horrible swim, but getting touched out is something that is never a good thing to feel,” she said. “Overall, the meet didn’t go the way I wanted it to, so there’ll definitely be a lot of reflection.”
In the men’s 200 IM, Tomoyuki Matushita of Japan won in 1:56.02 over American Carson Foster.