Swimming-American Douglass breaks 50m freestyle world record

American Kate Douglass broke Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom's women's 50 metres freestyle world record on Friday at a U.S. Pro Swim Series event in Indianapolis.

The 24-year-old, who won the 200m breaststroke gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, clocked 23.59 seconds to better the 23.61 set by Swede Sjostrom at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

"I mean wow, that's crazy, I think I'm still in shock, I don't even know what to say," Douglass told broadcaster Peacock.

"I was really just hoping to go a best time, break the American record. That's a lot faster than I ever thought I would go tonight, or ever."

Douglass finished ahead of Gretchen Walsh (23.78), with whom she shared the previous U.S. record of 23.91.

(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published June 19, 2026 at 11:00 PM.