Douglass wins Gold in 200 Breaststroke; Madden nabs Silver in 4×200 Free Relay

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Posted on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, 6:07 pm

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Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia women’s swimming alumna Kate Douglass won gold in the 200 Breaststroke on Thursday in the swimming competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games being held at the Paris La Defense Arena.

Douglass won the race in 2:19.24, breaking her own American record in the event.

Virginia alumna Paige Madden won silver in the 4×200 Free Relay. Madden swam the second leg of the race in 1:55.65, helping the American team finish second with a time of 7:40.86. Australia won gold in an Olympic-record time of 7:38.08. The U.S. has medalled in this event at every Olympic Games since it first took place in 1996, making it 8 medals in a row. Madden was also a member of the 4×200 Relay in Tokyo which also won silver.

With the two medals, Virginia swimmers have won five medals at the Games, one gold and four silver.

Douglass is the first Cavalier swimmer to ever win an individual gold medal at the Olympic games. All the previous Cavalier golds were won in relays.

This was Douglass’s second career individual Olympic medal after winning bronze at Tokyo 2020 in the 200 IM. She was the silver medalist in the 200 Breast at the World Championships earlier this year.

This is Douglass’s second medal at Paris 2024 after winning silver in the 4×100 Free Relay. It is the second gold medal for the American women in swimming at Paris 2024.

Douglass was the top seed in the final after posting a 2:19.74 in Wednesday’s semifinal. In the final, she finished 0.36 ahead of South Africa’s Tatjana Smith. Tes Schouten of the Netherlands took the bronze with a 2:21.05.

Douglass set the previous American record of 2:19.30 in the 200 Breast in February of this year at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville, Tenn.

Douglass, who graduated in 2023, was a two-time Honda Award Winner for Swimming, two-time CSCAA Swimmer of the Year and two-time ACC Swimmer of the Year. She helped Virginia to three straight NCAA Team Championships, winning seven career individual NCAA titles and eight NCAA relay golds. She was a 28-time All-American and a 28-time All-ACC performer.

Madden graduated in 2021 as a two-time ACC Swimmer of the Year with three individual NCAA titles, 14 All-America honors and 13 ACC individual and relay titles.

CAVALIER RUNNING MEDAL TALLY: 5

Gold (1): 200 Breaststroke (Kate Douglass)
Silver (4): 4×100 Free (Douglass, Gretchen Walsh), 100 Fly (G Walsh), 4×200 Relay (Paige Madden)

AMERICAN RECORDS

Kate Douglass, 200 Breast, 2:19.24
4×100 Free Relay (Douglass, G Walsh), 3:30.20

OLYMPIC RECORDS

100 Fly (G Walsh), 55.38