Kate Douglass crushes 100m freestyle world record to cap short course swim trials

Kate Douglass crushed her own world record in the 100m freestyle to close the USA Swimming World Short Course Championships Trials with a fourth race win.Douglass clocked 49.64 seconds in Westmont, Illinois, beating her previous record of 49.93 from 2025.Earlier at the meet, Douglass tied training partner Gretchen Walsh's world record in the 50m free, plus also won the 200m breaststroke and the 200m individual medley.She can swim all four events at the World Short Course Championships in Beijing from Dec. 1-6.SWIMMING: Full ResultsShort course meets are held in 25-meter pools rather than 50-meter pools (long course) used at the Olympics and other major meets in the summer.Douglass won the 200m breast at the 2024 Olympics, plus owns the world record in long course in the 50m free.Also Saturday, Ilya Kharun broke the American record in the 100m butterfly in the prelims and the final, bringing it down from Tom Shields' 21.99 to 21.46.Claire Curzan swam the second-fastest time in history in the 200m backstroke — 1:57.65, trailing only Australian Kaylee McKeown's world record of 1:57.33. Curzan broke the world record in the 100m back on Friday.Other winners Saturday included Alex Walsh (400m IM), Skyler Smith (50m breast), Claire Weinstein (800m free), Luke Hobson (200m free), Josh Bey (200m breast), Adam Chaney (100m back) and Maximus Williamson (200m IM).Simone Manuel splashes into short-course swimming with an eye on an Olympic send-offSimone Manuel competes in the USA Swimming World Short Course Championships trials, live on Peacock and NBCSN. Nick Zaccardi,