'Fragile' Walsh defies illness to win butterfly world gold

A "fragile" Gretchen Walsh shook off a stomach bug to power to a dominant victory in the 100m butterfly final at the world championships in Singapore on Monday.

World record holder Walsh took gold in 54.73sec – the second-fastest time in history – ahead of Belgium's Roos Vanotterdijk (55.84) and Alexandria Perkins of Australia (56.33).

CHAMPIONSHIPS RECORD + 2ND FASTEST EVER! 🔥🇺🇸
Gretchen Walsh smashes the Women’s 100m Butterfly with an electrifying 54.73, setting a new Championships Record and clocking the second-fastest time in history! pic.twitter.com/z0IqZ5xLgh

— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) July 28, 2025

The United States team has been hit with a bout of acute gastroenteritis and Walsh said she had been laid low heading into the race.

"The last couple of days, my body has been fragile," said the 22-year-old.

"I've needed to give myself grace and luckily I had the morning to recover and rest and I used that.

"That helped me enormously going into tonight."

'OVER THE MOON'

Walsh set the world record of 54.60sec in May.

She said she had to "reevaluate my expectations" for the world championships after her battle with illness, but surprised herself with her performance.

"I'm over the moon," she said.

"I'm really happy that when it mattered, I was able to do that and get my hands on the wall."

This is Walsh's first long-course individual world title, and the Olympic silver medallist was the clear favourite.

She won two relay golds at the Paris Olympics but was pipped to gold in the 100m butterfly final by teammate Torri Huske in an upset.

Huske decided against racing in the 100m butterfly in Singapore due to the gastroenteritis outbreak.